Yu-Gi-Oh! Aiisa
by SoapyWaffles19
Summary: Join Yusu Hokuma as is he is pushed to his limit in a true test of his dueling skills! In this alternate reality of Arc-V, where Academia never invaded, and all the dimensions are freely connected.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The True Test

There was nothing but blackness. A strange feeling crept through Yusu's body. Suddenly, a blinding white twinkle appeared in the distance. "Yusu…" a voice called out, "It's time to get ready, Yusu… Wake up…" Everything began to fade to white. "Wake up… wake up… wake up!"

Yusu jerked up from his bed. "Yusu! You're going to be late for your entrance exam," Yusu's dad said, standing at the door, "You need to get ready!"

Yusu sprang out of bed. "Shit! I can't believe I overslept! I've practiced so much for this entrance duel! I can't afford to miss it!" Yusu quickly got dressed and ran out the door, completely ignoring the breakfast his dad had prepared for him.

He dashed down the street, paying little attention to his surroundings. All he cared about was getting to his duel. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he crashed into someone. An old man with red spikes in his hair quickly sprang to his feet. "Whaaaaa! Why don't you watch where you're goiiing!" He hastily ran off as if he had somewhere important to be.

Yusu noticed a pendant on the ground. It had a strange design that he had never seen before. "Wait! Sir! You dropped this!" But the man was gone. He had no time to chase after him, so he put the pendant in his pocket and continued to the academy.

Yusu finally arrived at the academy, just as his friend Nakamura was leaving. "Yusu!" he called out, "You're a little late, aren't you?"

"I overslept…" Yusu looked down, "But I'm here now, and my monsters are ready to rattle and roll!" Yusu clutched the deck box on his belt with confidence.

Yusu and Naka approached the academy gate. "Hold it, you two!" The guard stopped them, "The duels are over now! This area is off limits!" The guard crossed this arms and huffed.

"B-but, sir!" Yusu bellowed, "I've been practicing day and night for the past few weeks for this duel! It means so much to me! There has to be something you can do." He was down on his knees tugging at the guards' coat.

"Well kid, you make a good case. Maybe I'll consider helping you out. But only if you do something for me." The guard winked at Yusu.

"Uh…" Yusu and Naka were both lost for words.

"Uh…" the guard paused, "How about you just forget that that happened and I'll call Mr. Atlas for you. Eh?" Yusu nodded. The guard turned on the video phone. "Sir, I have a kid here who says he wants to duel."

"Well…" Jack paused, "Testing has finished, and you know that! So why are you wasting my time?" The guard had no response.

"But, Mr. Atlas!" Yusu interjected, trying not to upset the headmaster, "I've been practicing nonstop in preparation for this duel! Please just let me duel!" Yusu was once again on his knees begging. Unfortunately, he couldn't grab Jack's coat through the screen.

"Hmmm…" Jack paused, holding back his anger, "What's your name, kid?"

"I-I'm Yusu Hokuma."

"Ah… Yasuda's son…" Jack paused again, "Well I don't give a damn if you're my head technician's son. If you're late, you're late. There's no special treatment, regardless of who your family is." Jack crossed his arms angrily.

"Now listen here!" Naka butted in. "If you don't give Yusu a chance to enter the academy, you'd really regret it." Naka looked over to Yusu and smiled. "You might not realize it, but it would be the biggest mistake you'll ever make if you don't give him this opportunity. Yusu is the strongest duelist I know! And he would be an excellent addition to this school!" Naka so badly wanted to curse at Jack, but did not want to get kicked out of the academy.

"Well Yusu, I see that you're friend really cares about you," Jack said, seeming a lot less angry, "In fact, he reminds me a bit of an old friend of mine. You know what, kid?"

"Yeah?" Yusu said, starting to crack a smile.

"I've decided to give you a chance to enter my school." Yusu and Naka cheered. "However!" Jack interrupted their celebration, "Because you were late, you will not be dueling the normal opponent for the entrance exam. Instead, you will be dueling one of my best students. He's a very experienced duelist. Nick Grath!"

Yusu's eye widened. "Nick Grath? But he's one of the highest ranking duelists in the country!" Yusu almost began to panic, but Naka held him back.

"I don't give a damn if he's the strongest duelist in the world!" Naka asserted, "I've seen what you can do when you! And just because he's high ranking, doesn't mean you can't beat him!" Naka nodded at Yusu, and Yusu nodded back and smiled.

"You're right, Naka!" Yusu clenched his fist confidently, "Mr. Atlas, I accept your terms!"

"Excellent. I'll call Nick now. You're duel will begin immediately!"

Yusu and Naka made their way to the testing arena. Nick was there waiting for them. "So you're Yusu, eh?" Nick asked, "Well I have to tell you, I'm not guaranteeing that I will win, but I do not plan on losing." Nick began shuffling his deck in a cocky manner. "Let's duel!"

"It's time to set the stage!" Jack announced, "I activate the action field spell, Turbo Gear Factory! Now begin the duel!"

"Alright, I'll go first!" Nick said, "I draw!" Nick looked at the card he drew and smirked. "I'd hate to say it, Yusu, but I think you've already lost!" Yusu's eyes widened, he seemed to have lost all of the confidence he had. "First I summon Geargiano MK-II! This allows me to summon a geargiano MK-III from my hand! And when Geargiano MK-III is summoned, I can summon a third geargiano from my hand!"

"Oh no. Three level three monsters!"

"That's right! So now with my three level three Geargianos, I build the overlay network, and xyz summon… GEAR GANT G!"

 **Gear Gant G**

Rank 3

EARTH/Machine/XYZ

2100 ATK / 2500 DEF

"Wow. An xyz summon on his first turn," Naka said to himself, "No wonder he's so highly ranked"

"And now, I think I'll end my turn with a face down!"

"Alright! My monsters are ready to rattle and roll! I draw!" Yusu was still slightly shocked by Nicks first turn xyz summon. "I summon Mechanimal Overtoad in defense position! When this card is normal summoned, I can add one Mechanimal card from my deck to my—"

"I activate Gear Gant's effect!" Nick interrupted, "During either players turn, I can use one of his overlay units to target one monster on the field. Due to Gear Gant's effect, your Overtoad is forced into attack mode and its effect is negated!"

"Oh man! This has to be a joke. I don't think I'm prepared for a situation like this!" Yusu looked over at Naka, and felt a sudden burst in confidence. "Well, all I can do is place two cards face down and end my turn. Your move!"

"Alright! Draw!" Nick had a smug grin on his face, "I think I'll attack your Overtoad with my Gear Gant! GO! Gear Grinder Attack!"

"I activate my trap, Mecha Reflect Blocker!" Nick gasped. "I can activate this trap when an attack position monster I control with 0 attack is targeted for an attack! This trap stops my monster from being destroyed! Plus, you take the same amount of damage I take as well!"

"WHAT! WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Yusu: 1900 LP, 3 cards in hand

Nick: 1900 LP, 4 cards in hand

"And now, I activate my other trap, Mechanical Reverse!" Yusu continued, filled with energy, "When one of my Mechanimal monsters is attacked, this trap destroy the attacking monster after the battle!"

"Gear Gant!" Nick clenched his fist, "But it's alright. I activate Gear Gant G's effect from the graveyard! When it leaves the field, I can add a Geargia monster from my deck to my hand! So I will add Geargiaugment to my hand!" Nick paused. His eyes turned to a flashing shadowy purple. "GAAAAHHHH!" He hunched over in pain.

"Nick!" Yusu yelled, "Are you okay?" Yusu was about to drop his duel disk and run over to him.

"Forget about me!" Nick hissed as he straightened up, his eyes still glowing, "On with my turn! I activate the trap Geargia Repair! If an xyz monster was destroyed this turn, I can summon 2 Geargia monsters from my graveyard! Welcome back, Geargiano MK-II and MK-III!"

Yusu gasped, "You've brought back your monsters! You're going to xyz summon again!"

"That is true, Yusu. But first, I activate the spell, Polymerization! I use my 2 Geargiano to fusion summon Geargiadd-on!

"A Fusion Summon?!" Yusu was shocked that Nick could Fusion and Xyz summon with the same deck.

"That's right!" Nick scoffed, "I hope you're keeping up, because I'm not done yet! When Geargiadd-On is summoned I can special summon 1 EARTH Machine-Type monster from my graveyard! Come on back, Geargiano MK-III! And now, because MK-III was summoned, I can summon Geargiaugment from my hand. And when Geargiaugment is summoned, I can add a Geargia monster from my deck to my hand. So I add Geargiaccelerator! And I will immediately summon him from my hand due to his effect!"

"What are you even going to do with all of these monsters?" Yusu asked, "They're all different levels!"

"You'll see soon enough," Nick paused, "Now I use the effect of the field spell, Turbo Gear Factory! I can target one Machine-type monster I control, and all of my other monsters become the same level as the monster I chose! So I target my level 4 Geargiadd-On to make all of my Geargias become level 4!"

"What? Four level 4 monsters!"

"That's right, Yusu!" Nick laughed, "But before I xyz summon, I activate the spell, NEGATIVE GEAR SHIFT! This makes all my monsters levels negative! So they are all negative level four!" Nick continued to laugh uncontrollably.

"Negative levels?!" Jack yelled, "Monsters can't have negative levels!"

"How…" Yusu said in awe, "What is a negative level…?"

"When a monster is consumed by rage and darkness, their levels fall beneath the limits of nothingness and their levels becomes negative!" Nick barely sounded human anymore, "I use all four of my negative level 4 Geargia Monsters to build the overlay network." Nick's eyes began to glow darker. "I inverse xyz summon Negative Number 11: Geargiassault Lord GX!"

"A-a negative number?!" Yusu fell to the ground in terror. "What's a negative Number?! I don't stand a chance against a monster like that…" His pocket began to glow. He pulled the pendant out of his pocket. It was glowing uncontrollably. Out of nowhere, a floating blue figure appeared out of the pendant. It turned to Yusu and began to speak.

"Rise up!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Negative Reception

"I inverse xyz summon Negative Number 11: Geargiassault Lord GX!" A dark void cracked open in the floor of the duel arena. The mechanical beast rose up from the abyss, a shadowy aura was radiating off if Nick and the Number.

 **Number -11: Geargiassault Lord GX**

 **Rank -4**

EARTH/Machine/Inverse XYZ

3000 ATK / 800 DEF

"A-a negative number?!" Yusu fell to his knees in terror. "What's a negative Number?! I don't stand a chance against a monster like that…" His pocket began to glow. He pulled the pendant out of his pocket. It was glowing uncontrollably. Out of nowhere, a floating blue figure appeared out of the pendant. It turned to Yusu and began to speak.

"Rise up!" The figure said, floating with its arms crossed.

Yusu was lost for words. "Wh-who are you?" Yusu asked, "Why are you here?"

"That I do not know…" The figure answered, "But I do know that my name is Astral." He paused. "And this… is a duel… a duel that you cannot afford to lose…" He looked down, and then at Yusu. "Now rise up!"

"Astral?!" Yusu scratched his head, "Why does that sound so familiar…?" Yusu knew that he had heard the name before.

"Yusu!" Naka yelled, "I don't know what's going on here, or who that blue guy is, but this is a duel. And I know you can win!"

"Yeah, Yusu," Nick snarled, "I don't know what trick you're pulling to make that blue thing, but get up now or surrender the duel!" The aura grew stronger around Nick, as if it was being fueled by his anger.

Yusu knew he had no choice. It's been his dream for years to join the academy. "There is no way in hell that I am going to surrender!" Yusu rose to his feet, "Now get on with your turn, Nick!"

"If you insist." Nick wicked smile widened. "I activate Geargiassault Lord's special ability! I hope you weren't planning on using that Overtoad of yours, because when I use one of Geargiassault Lord's overlay units, I can take control of one of your monsters!" A dark void engulfed Yusu's monster. "COME TO ME OVERTOAD!" The void reopened on Nick's side of the field and Overtoad jumped out, its eyes glowing purple.

"Overtoad! No!" Yusu cried as if he lost his best friend.

"Yes!" Nick laughed, "Your precious Overtoad is mine now! But he won't be here for long!" Nick grabbed the last card in his hand. "To end my turn, I activate the spell Limiter Burst! It's a good thing your Overtoad is a machine-type, because this spell lets me destroy one machine-type monster on my field to inflict damage to you equal to its attack or defense. MY Overtoad has 2000 defense, SO THIS DUEL IS OVER!" Overtoad burst into a wild explosion, sending a blast of light towards Yusu.

"I activate Mechanimal Scarablock's special ability from my hand!" Yusu smiled, "This duel is far from over, because if I summon this card, I can cancel out any effect damage I would have takn! So I'm still in this duel!" Scarablock (LV 1 / 1200 ATK/ 800 DEF) sprang up and absorbed the blast of light.

"You're just delaying the inevitable, Yusu! No matter what you summon, I can just steal it and attack with my Geargiassault Lord! Just draw you pathetic card so I can end this, Yusu!"

"I got this deck from my father! I believe in this deck, just like my friends believe in me! Every card in this deck has a potential use." Yusu paused. "In other words… My father's deck has no pathetic cards, Nick!"

"That was very well said, Yusu," Astral grinned, "But you cannot win this duel with words alone. Do you even know how you can win?"

"Of course I don't!" Yusu answered, "But there is no such thing as a guaranteed win. I just have to trust in every card in my deck, I know I'll do my best! I draw!" Yusu drew his final card, knowing he could use it in some way to help him. "Aha! This'll work!" Yusu grinned. "I summon Mechanimal Monkeywrench (LV 4 / 1900 ATK / 0 DEF / Tuner)!"

"A… Tuner?" Astral pondered.

"A tuner? HA!" Nick cackled, "You're monsters levels only add up to 5! There is no Level 5 Synchro monster that could beat my monster!" Nick continued to laugh uncontrollably. He knew he had the win.

"I disagree, but nonetheless, I won't be summoning a level 5 Synchro!"

"What do you mean?!" Nick bellowed.

"Did you forget about Turbo Gear Factory, Nick?" Nick gasped, "I use Turbo Gear Factory' effect and make all of my monsters level 4!"

"You have two level four monsters, Yusu!" Astral let out, "Xyz summon Utopia! Quickly!"

"Utopia? What's that?"

"I… I do not know…" Astral looked down, confused by what he had said.

"No matter," Yusu continued, "I'm not xyz summoning anyways." Astral looked at Yusu with a puzzled look on his face. "I tune my now level 4 Scarablock with my level 4 Monkeywrench! I Synchro Summon Mechanitile Bolt Dragon (2500 ATK / 2000 DEF)!" A tornado of scrap appeared and quickly bolted together to from a mighty dragon.

"Synchro… Summon…" Astral looked at Yusu's monster, he had never heard of this strange summoning method before.

"Yes. Synchro Summon!" Yusu confidently smiles, "And now Monkeywrench's effect activates! When it is sent to the graveyard for a synchro summon, that synchro summoned monster gains 1000 ATK (3500 ATK)!"

"What! Now your monster is stronger than mine!" Nick grinded his teeth with rage. The dark aura grew even stronger.

"Yes! But I'm not finished yet!" Yusu continued, victory was almost his, "Bolt Dragon has his own special ability! When a monster I control gains attack, I can make a monster you control lose attack equal to the same amount!"

"So my Assault Lord is down to 2000 ATK… But did I forget to mention that I can use MY monster's ability during your turn too? So I think I'll steal your Bolt Dragon!" The dark aura swarmed over to Bolt Dragon.

"I don't think so!" Yusu burst out, "See, Bolt Dragon has another ability. If he is targeted by another monsters special ability, he can negate it!" Nick growled. "But that's not all! Your monster loses another 1000 ATK!"

"But that means…"

"Yes! One more attack, and I win!" Yusu jumped on the back of his dragon. "Go Bolt Dragon! BOLT STREAM CHARGE!" Bolt Dragon Charged into Geargiassault Lord with full force.

"NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" Nick flew back against the wall.

Yusu – 1900 lp

Nick – 0 lp

"You won…" Astral said, "Even when the odds were stacked against you, you won without a strategy. Just by believing in your cards, you succeeded where most would have failed…"

The aura around Nick vanished and the Negative Number Card appeared next to Nick. Astral floated over and picked it up. "I feel like I should be collecting these… Numbers… Something seems so familiar about this." Astral disappeared into the pendant, but Yusu didn't seem to notice. He was too excited about his victory.

"Yusu! You won!" Naka ran over and lifted Yusu off the ground, "That means you're in the academy!"

"I believe that is my decision," Jack walked up with his arms held behind his back, "I don't know what happened with Nick, what with that Negative Number and all, but that was still quite the display nonetheless Yusu." Jack turned to Nick, who was unconscious. "You defeated one of my best students. Even when he had some mysterious card that seemed to be stronger than every other card in his deck."

"So…?" Naka interrupted.

"Please! Do not interrupt me!" Jack continued looking at Naka angrily, "With all that said, you definitely are Paradise Duel Academy material. You are hereby officially enrolled in my academy!" Yusu and Naka cheered.

"Just wait until I tell Damian and Sierra about his!" Yusu exclaimed.

Nick regained consciousness and sat up. "Is our duel over? Did I win?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Naka asked. "You summoned something called a Negative Number. But Yusu still kicked your ass." Naka let out a friendly laugh.

"I don't remember any of that." Nick scratched his head. "But if you say Yusu won, I won't argue." Nick stood up and put his hand out to Yusu, "Welcome to the family!"

Meanwhile, in a faraway unknown location, two mysterious people were having a meeting. "The boy failed… Even with the influence of our number…" The tall figure said with his arms crossed.

"No matter…" The other replied, "The seed of darkness and rage has been planted in the boys heart… He will serve his greater purpose eventually… And soon, we will be able to make our return…" The figure paused, "Although… The return of the envoy from Astral World is quite troublesome indeed."

"Yes… but I think I know how we can take care of him…" He began to laugh maniacally and the other joined in, as if he knew what he was planning.

"This world and Astral World will be no more… AND NOTHING WILL STAND IN OUR WAY!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: School Days

Yusu was once again surrounded by the murky darkness. The same strange feeling crawled throughout his body. The light appeared, but it was closer this time. "Yusu…" The voice called out, "Soon… It's almost time… Wake up…" Everything faded to white again and Yusu sprang out of bed.

"What a strange dream," Yusu muttered, breathing heavily. Yusu looked at the end of his bed and noticed Astral sitting and staring at him. "What are you doing? Don't you ever sleep?"

"I do not need sleep." He replied. "But it is midnight, and humans do need sleep." Astral looked away from Yusu.

"You're right!" Yusu plopped back onto his pillow. "Tomorrow's my first day of class. I need sleep." Yusu quickly fell back to sleep.

Astral floated over to the window and looked out at Paradise City. "Why am I here? Synchro Monsters… Negative Numbers… This is all so strange… yet something seems so familiar about it…"

Morning came. Yusu woke up and noticed Astral was nowhere to be found. He got ready and eagerly ran off to school. He met up with his friends on campus. "Ayyyy!" Damian blurted, "What kept ya, mate?" He put his hand on his hip.

"Ha ha, what a kidder," Sierra laughed, "You're right on time, Yusu!" She closed her eyes and smiled.

"Heh. Nice to see you, Damian," Yusu turned, "Sierra." She nodded.

"Yeah, man," Damian butt in, "Too bad we missed your duel yesterday. I heard some crazy shit went down."

"Oh yeah," Naka said, "Yusu's opponent went berserk and summoned something called an inverse xyz monster, an Negative Number. Monsters had negative levels. It was crazy."

"Yeah," Yusu added, "I mean, it was definitely a challenge, but—"

"You still kicked his ass though, dude," Damian interrupted, "You're unstoppable!" Damian motioned for a high five. Yusu didn't respond. He was excited when he woke up, but when he got on campus, he began to feel uneasy. He knows that he has not seen the last of the Negative Numbers. "Okay then…" Damian put his hand down.

Sierra broke the awkward silence. "Well, we should check out the rest of the campus before class."

"Yes." Naka answered, "Let's go." The foursome checked out the rest of the campus. After a few minutes of exploring they ran into three older kids.

"Hey kiddies," the tall one called out, "You guys new here?" Both of them were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed.

"Yeah!" Naka responded, "You can call me Naka. And this is Sierra, Damian, and Yusu. We—"

He interrupted, "Yusu, you say?" Yusu nodded. "So you're the one that beat Nick." He looked Yusu up and down. "Well my name is Hayato. And this is Raikomo and his girlfriend Miyu." It was obvious that something was a little off about her.

Raikomo gestured for a handshake and said, "You can call me Rai." Yusu shook his hand, "And if you ever need rare cards, I'm your man. But it'll cost ya." Sierra took a step back. She didn't trust these guys.

"Hmmm, quite…" Hayato continued, "We're in Obelisk Blue. And since you beat the only duelist in this school that's better than me, I want to duel you, Yusu."

"Well, I'm not one to back down from a challenge!" Yusu responded, "I accept, Hayato!" Yusu knew that if there was one thing to help him feel better, it was a normal duel.

Astral appeared, almost as if he could sense the oncoming duel. "Woah!" Rai exclaimed, "What's that thing?" He pointed to Astral.

"Oh, that." Yusu laughed nervously, "That's just a hologram program my dad designed. Don't worry about it!" Yusu tilted his head and smiled.

"Hologram?!" Astral exclaimed, "What nonsense…"

"Ha ha! Such a kidder! Just the way my dad programmed you!" Yusu turned to Astral and whispered, "Are you crazy?! We can't let people know that you're some real… whatever you are! Just let them think you're a program!" Astral sighed and nodded.

"Alrighty, then!" Hayato said, "Let's duel!" They made space for them to duel. "Since I'm the veteran, I'll be nice and let you go first, kid!"

"Sure!" Yusu smiled. The duel had just started and he already felt better. "I draw!"

"Yusu…" Astral muttered, "Be careful… I get a strange feeling from this boy…"

"Please be quiet, Astral," Yusu replied, "I just want a nice normal duel." Astral sighed and floated to the side. "First, I summon Mechanimal Chain Cheetah in attack mode! Then I'll set one card face-down and pass it over to you!"

"What an interesting duel style…" Hayato paused and drew his card. He smiled, "first I activate the field spell Union Hangar! When this card is activated, I can add a Union monster to my hand! Come to me, O – Ojancanu Tank! Then, I summon N – Naga Mortar! Now, when I summon a Union Monster, my field spell lets me equip a union monster to it directly from my deck! So come on out M – Manticore Launcher!" The mortar and the launcher transformed together into one monster. "When Manticore launcher is equipped to a monster, I can normal summon an additional union monster each turn, so come join the party, O – Ojancanu Tank!"

"That's quite the combo!" Yusu complimented, "You're deck is pretty neat!"

"Thank you," Hayato smiled, "But you haven't seen anything yet! Winged launcher lion of poison! Silent mortar serpent of deceit! And One-eyed tank of destruction! Join together to form the ultimately perfect weapon! Contact Fusion—"Just then, the holograms dispersed and a large screen with Headmaster Atlas appeared in the courtyard.

"Attention, first year students!" Jack called out. "There will be a mandatory assembly for all of you new students in five minutes! Don't be late! No excuses!" The screen disappeared as quickly as it hadappeared.

"Well, that's us," Yusu said, "We'll have to finish our duel another time. Sorry, man!"

"Man! I was about to summon one of my best monsters!" Hayato laughed, "Ah well… I guess you're off the hook for now. Have fun at you're little assembly." The foursome went off on their own again.

"I don't like those guys, Yusu," Sierra said, "I don't trust them…"

"Ah, don't worry about them," Yusu replied calmly, "We're all just duelists here." He felt so much better after that short duel. He had almost completely forgot about the Negative Number.

They arrived at the auditorium, where the rest of the new students were gathered. Shortly after, Headmaster Atlas appeared before the crowd. "Welcome all! I'm going to get straight to the point. As many of you may know, there are three dorms in this school, separated by rankings. Slifer Red being the lowest rank, Ra Yellow being middle rank, and Obelisk Blue being the highest. I chose who goes where based on their performance in their entrance exam."

"We're going to be in Blue, I just know it!" Naka whispered to Yusu.

"HOWEVER!" Jack went on, "As is tradition, first year students are never placed directly into Blue. You have to earn the spot! You will be placed in Red if I feel you have potential, but barely passed your exam. The rest of you will be placed in Yellow. I don't care how well you performed on your test!" Jack pointed over to a screen at the side of the room. "Over there is where you will find out what dorm you are in! That is all."

The crowd gathered around the posting. "Alright, Yusu! We both made it into Ra yellow!" Naka said, giving Yusu a friendly a friendly punch on the arm.

"I did too, guys!" Sierra chimed happily.

"What's this nonsense?!" Damian exclaimed, "I'm in Red! Friggin' bullshit!" The other three laughed.

After a long day of classes, the four decided to meet outside of the cafeteria. "Where's Yusu?" Sierra asked, "Classes ended over a half hour ago."

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen him since this morning's Ritual Summoning class." Naka was worried as well. "Well it won't do us any good to just sit here. Let's look for him!" They searched around campus until they ran into 2 Obelisk Students. They seemed out of place, like they were different from the other students.

"Oi! You two!" Naka called out, "Have you seen our friend, Yusu?" The two turned. They appeared to be laughing under their breath.

"Yusu, huh?" The tall one asked, "I don't know, have you seen him, Sadow?" He turned to the kid next to him with a twisted smile.

"Hmmmm…" The other replied, "I can't say that I have, Aerin…" The two looked at each other and laughed.

"You two obviously know something!" Naka yelled, "Tell us!" Naka was furious. His friend was missing, and the two Obelisks were acting like it was a joke.

"We may know where your friend is… But we don't have time to deal with you right now…" The two began to walk away.

Naka ran and cut in front of them. "You two know something, and I want to know what!" He grinded his teeth, "I'll duel you both at once if I have to!"

"You won't have to!" Damian said, "I've got your back, dude!"

"Well…" Aerin paused, "As Obelisk Blue students of this academy, we cannot decline a challenge… We accept!" Aerin and Sadow exchanged glances and smiled.

"But there are rules!" Sadow said, "Since this a tag duel, none of us can attack on our first turn. Furthermore, each duelist only gets 2000 life points instead of 4000."

"Fine! We accept your terms!" Naka yelled impatiently.

Aerin laughed. "Heh… Let's duel!"

"We'll let the slacker go first." Sadow said, gesturing towards Damian.

"Ay! Fek off, mate!" Damian shouted angrily, "But sure, I'll go first…" He drew his card. "First I activate the spell, Foolish Burial! This allows me to send a monster from my deck the graveyard! So I'll send Wightprince!" Damian smiled, "And when Wightprince is sent to the graveyard, I can send a Skull Servant and a Lady in Wight as well."

"Heh. I hope you're planning on doing something with those monsters in your graveyard." Aerin said smugly.

"Trust me… I am!" Damian paused. "Now that I have everything set up… I summon the ancient ruler of all undead! King of the Skull Servants (0 ATK / 0 DEF)!"

"But that monster has no attack!" Sadow laughed. "It better have a good effect!"

"Well, it's a good thing he does!" Damian smiled, "My King's original attack becomes 1000 times the amount of skull servants in my graveyard. And since all 3 of my monsters count as skull servants while in my graveyard, my King's attack becomes 3000!" The pile of bones beneath Damian's monster grew larger. "Then I'll set two card and end my turn!"

"Wow… A 3000 attack monster on your first turn." Aerin looked at Damian's monster. "Quite impressive. But I can do you one better! I draw!" Aerin began to laugh. "If I control no monsters, I can summon this monster from my hand. PHOTON THRASHER (2100 ATK)! Next, I summon Photon Crusher (2000 ATK)!"

"Those are some strong monsters," Damian laughed, "But mine's stronger!"

"Maybe…" Aerin smiled, "But these monsters aren't staying for long!" Aerin paused. "I tribute my two monsters… to summon a monster more savage than a supernova! A cosmic scourge that vaporizes everything in its path! I summon… Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon (3000 ATK)!" A blinding white light appeared and his glimmering dragon descended from it. "Next I will set one card face down. And with that… I end my turn."

"That is quite the monster," Naka said, "I'll have to bring out the big guns to beat it." Naka smiled, "Quite literally… I draw! I summon A.V. the Ballistiqueen Artist! Next, I activate the spell, Ballistiqueen Runway! This lets me ritual summon a Ballistiqueen monster by tributing monsters in my hand or on my field!" Naka grabbed a blue card from his hand. "I summon Ms. Barretina, Ballistiqueen of the High Powered (2800 ATK)! That's all I can do for now… So I end my turn."

Sadow smiled, "Geheh, the time has come…" He drew, "First I activate the spell, Enemy Burial!" He exchanged grins with Aerin, "This allows me to force someone to send a monster of their choosing from their deck to the graveyard! And I think I'll make my partner send a monster!"

"But you're making Aerin lose a card from his deck!" Damian yelled, "What kind of strategy is that?"

"Oh…" Aerin said, "I really don't mind… It's for the greater good!" He looked through his deck to find the right card. "I send Galaxy Wizard (0 ATK) to the graveyard!"4

"Perfect!" Sadow continued, "Because now I summon Primal Spawn! And when this card is summoned, I can summon a monster with 0 ATK from my graveyard… So come back, Galaxy Wizard!" The wise wizard rose from the grave. "And now that I control 2 monsters with 0 ATK… I can do this…" Sadow paused. Both he and Aerin became surrounded by the same dark aura that surrounded Nick. "Thanks to these two monsters I can summon your worst nightmare!" Aerin and Sadow laughed as a black hole cracked open behind them, "I call up the dragon of darkness from before the beginning of time! Come forth and consume the light of this pathetic world, VOID-EYES PRIMAL DRAGON!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Atlas World Cup

"I call up the dragon of darkness from before the beginning of time! Come forth and consume the light of this pathetic world, VOID-EYES PRIMAL DRAGON (3000 ATK)!" A deep purple dragon crawled out of the black hole.

Aerin laughed, "Now that we have our two cosmic dragons on the field, there is no way you can win!" The blue and purple auras around them grew stronger.

Sadow continued, "I set 2 cards face-down and pass it to you… but I doubt there's much you could do!"

Damian drew his card. "This might be just what I need! I normal summon Uni-Zombie!" Damian smiled. "I activate Uni-Zombies Effect! I can discard one card to his level by 1! So I discard Wightmare to increase Uni-Zombie's level by 1 (Lv 4)! And because there is another servant in the graveyard, my king grows even stronger (4000 atk)!" The pile of bones under Damian's king grew even larger. "But I'm not done yet! Uni-Zombie can activate his effect again, but this time he sends a zombie from the deck to the graveyard instead! Say hello and goodbye to Wightprince!" His monster appeared from his deck and was sucked down to the graveyard. "And you remember what he does when he's sent to the grave… I get to send 2 more 'skull servants' to the graveyard, which means King gets another 3000 atk (7000 atk)!" Damian laughed as he played his next card, "Next I activate the trap, Powerful Rebirth! This lets me special summon a monster from my graveyard and increase its level by 1!" A skeleton rose from the graveyard, "Welcome back Wightprince (lv 2)! Next… I tune my level 2 Wightprince with my level 5 Uni-Zombie! I Synchro Summon Nosenth, Bone Dragon of the Skull Servants in defense position (2800 def)"

"I didn't know you could Synchro Summon, Damian." Naka said with a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah," Damian grinned, "I've been practicing!" Damian looked at Naka and then at his undead dragon, "And since Wightprince was sent to the graveyard, YET AGAIN, I can send another two 'skull servants' to the graveyard!" The pile of skulls beneath King grew to a massive size.

"Wow!" Sadow laughed, "9000 atk… That's enough to easily finish us off." Aerin and Sadow exchanged glances.

"Well I'm not done yet!" Damian continued, "When Nosenth is on the field, I can give my King another 1000 atk, plus he is unaffected your card effects!" Damian pointed forward, "King of the Skull Servants, attack Sadow's Void-Eyes! That's going to be 7000 points of damage! You're out of this duel!"

"Hold on!" Sadow yelled, "I activate my trap, Graveyard Void Hole! With this, I can target one monster in a graveyard that was sent there this turn and banish it, along with any monster with the same name!"

"But… but… ALL of my monsters have the same name while they're in the graveyard!"

"That's right! Which means your skull servant has 1000 atk! And it's way too late to call off your attack!"

"King! Nooo!"

"King, yes!" Sadow mocked, "I'm afraid you're out of this duel!"

"What is going on here?" A voice in the distance called out, "An unsolicited duel!" Headmaster Atlas stepped out of the shadows in a robe and slippers, "This is unacceptable! I'm glad to see your enthusiasms for dueling, but we have rules here!" He put his hands on his hips. "And there is no dueling on campus afterhours. This duel is over!" The holograms dispersed.

"But, sir—" Naka yelled.

"But nothing!" Jack interrupted. "Just consider yourself lucky I'm letting you off with a warning… Unless you'd rather be expelled?"

"No, sir…" Naka looked down angrily, "But those two—" Naka pointed over where Aerin and Sadow were, but they were gone. "Never mind."

"Alright then!" Jack continued, "Like I said, I'll just let you boys off with a warning this time… But next time…" Jack looked at them over his clearly fake reading glasses, "You'll face the wrath of my Red Dragon Archfiend!" Jack paused, noticing their confusion. "And by that I mean expulsion!" He was clearly aggravated the whole situation. "Now please… Go to your dorms!"

"But Mr. Atlas!" Sierra cried, "We can't find Yusu anywhere!" She reached out and grabbed his robe.

"Yusu, eh…" Jack showed some concern, "Well we—"

"Guys," a voice called out, "Where were you guys?" Everyone turned to see Yusu.

"Yusu!" they all yelled.

"Where were you?" Sierra bellowed.

"Woah, Sierra," Yusu laughed nervously, "I was just getting some new cards. What's the issue?" He scratched the back of his head and smiled.

"Dude, there were two Obelisk Blue students that we dueled," Damian started, "And they made it seem like something happened to you. We were worried, man!"

"Well, I'm fine, guys," Yusu laughed, "Don't worry…"

"Obelisk Blues…" Jack looked down, "I'll have to look into this…" Jack headed to his office.

"Well, it's been a long day," Naka began, "Let's take Mr. Atlas' advice and go to our dorm." They headed off.

Later that evening, Aerin and Sadow were talking with an orange haired Obelisk Blue. "We would have gotten Yusu if his friends and that Australian asshole hadn't interfered!" Aerin sneered.

"It's alright…" the third kid said calmly, "I have a plan… And it involves that same Mr. Atlas that just thwarted out plans!"

"What are we going to do?" Sadow asked, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

"Just leave it to me, Sadow!" The third person began to laugh.

That night, Jack was in his office, reviewing the day's security footage to find the recent tag duel. "Hm… Is there actually something going on in this academy…" he said to himself.

"Mr. Atlas!"

Jack jumped up from his deck to see the orange haired Obelisk standing at the other end of the room. "Who the hell are you?" Jack yelled, "You're not a student here! Why are you wearing that uniform?" Jack looked up and his eyes widened, "You must be one of the duelists that my students were telling me about! In the unsolicited tag duel!"

"None of that matters now…" he continued, "All that matters is that your mind now belongs to us!" He held up a glowing black card and gave a twisted smile.

"Is that a…" Jack paused as his eyes widened.

"A negative number card!" He laughed, "And with it, you will be under our control!" His eyes narrowed as the purple glow became blinding.

The next morning, Jack had called an early assembly. It quickly began as the students arrived. "Attention, duelists!" Jack called out as everyone found a seat, "I know it's very early in the school year, but I feel this student body deserves a nice treat!" The students murmured to each other. "Hush! It's a very special treat indeed. I've decided to invite students from all of the top academies around the world to compete with us in a tournament I call 'The Atlas World Cup.'" The murmurs grew louder. "Quiet down! This tournament will begin in two weeks. That should give you all plenty of time to prepare! However, I've decided that each school can only have 5 representatives to compete in the tournament. And I've already decided the five for our academy…" Everyone looked around hoping they would be chosen to represent.

Naka nudged Yusu in the side, "I bet we both get chosen." Yusu shrugged his shoulders and gave a little smile. After his performance in his entrance duel, he felt sure he would be chosen.

"The first student to represent our school will or course be our top duelist, Nick Grath!" The crowd let out quiet jeers.

"He was beaten by a nobody!" Someone called out.

"Why should that loser represent us?" Someone else hissed.

"SHUT IT!" Jack yelled, "One loss does not make him any worse of a duelist than he was! He will be a representative and I don't want to hear another word about it!" Everyone quieted down. Jack continued, "Next is Hayato…" Jack paused, not wanting to mispronounce his last name, "Anyways… Hayato! You all know who he is. Our third representative will be Hiro Tokoma!" A tall boy in a robe stood up and waved as those around him cheered. "Fourth will be Delaney McMullen!" A short brunette girl stood up briefly and gestured to the crowd.

"Wait…" Naka said, looking confused, "That's four representatives… That means we can't be chosen, Yusu." He looked over at Yusu and squinted.

"Oh I'm sure you'll be chosen over me, Naka." Yusu smiled and patted him on the back.

"And last but certainly not least!" Jack continued, "Our fifth and final representative will be…" Naka began to stand up, "Yusu Hokuma!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Negative Number Hunter, Heart of Ice

A week had passed since the announcement of the Atlas World Cup. Yusu and friends are hanging out in Downtown Paradise Plaza. "I still can't believe that I wasn't chosen to represent our school." Naka laughed, "But I'm sure I was the 6th choice."

Yusu smiled, "Haha, I bet you are, buddy." He patted Naka on the back.

"So are you nervous, mate?" Damian asked, "I mean… You're dueling the best duelists from around the world. You have to be at least kind of worried." Sierra smacked him on the back of the head and he let out a little whimper.

"Nervous?" Yusu tilted his head, "Nah. I know my monsters won't let me down! I just need to believe in them!" He patted his deck box at his side.

"Yusu… Don't you think you should have a bit more of a strategy than that?" Sierra nagged politely.

"Well—Uhh— I don't need strategy, because—" Yusu scratched the back of this.

"Yusu!" Sierra yelled grabbing Yusu's ear, "I'm sorry, but you're the only First year chosen to represent. You need to be ready for anything!"

"If I was prepared for every situation in a duel, there would be no unexpected…" Yusu smiled, "I duel for fun. And I love the feeling I get when my opponent completely catches me off guard with some cool duel style. Dueling just wouldn't be the same if I was prepared for everything."

"Man, that was beautiful," a girly voice said behind Yusu. Everyone turned to see a short brunette girl.

"Hey. You're that girl that's representing our school," Naka pointed out, "You're in Obelisk Blue, aren't you?"

"Heh, that's me," she laughed, "The names Delaney! And I wanna duel you, Yusu!" She held up her duel disk and a purple crescent shape blade appeared.

"I never back down from a challenge!" Yusu said, grabbing his duel disk, "My monsters are ready to rattle and roll!"

"Perfect! Let's see how your "No Strategy" strategy fares against my deck!" Delaney smiled with her hand at her hip.

"I'm not worried," Yusu smiled and scratched the back of this head. "Let's get this duel on!"

Yusu – 4000 lp

Delaney – 4000 lp

"I'll let you go first, kid," Delaney smiled and gestured her hand to Yusu.

"Why thank you!" Yusu drew, "I summon Mechanimal Sharkplug (1900 ATK)!" I tidal wave ripped open in the ground and a mechanical shark sprang out. "Then pass it over to you with a face down!"

"That's it?" Delaney asked, "I'm beginning to wonder how you beat Nick… But I'm sure you'll show me!" Delaney laughed and drew her card, "Oh my goodness gracious! Just what I needed! First, I summon Grinder Golem… TO YOUR FIELD!" A giant gear golem appeared on Yusu's field, "I can gift you this lovely Golem (3000 atk) by summoning a grinder token (0 ATK) to my field!" A miniature version of the massive golem appeared on Delaney's field. "However… Whenever it's summoned, the token is forced to instantly attack." The little golem lunged at Yusu's golem, but it crushed it with its massive fist. Delaney was blown back by the damage, but she quickly got back up.

Yusu – 4000 lp, 4 cards

Delaney – 1000 lp, 5 cards

"But why?" Yusu yelled, "You just took massive damage!"

"Be careful!" Naka called out, "She's obviously planning something!"

"He's right, Yusu!" Delaney laughed, "That sacrifice was worth it! Because when I take 3000 damage from a single attack, I can activate my spell… Inferno Tempest!" Everyone gasped. "This spell forces us to banish every monster from our decks!" All of the monster cards from Yusu's deck were poured into banishment.

"My monsters!" Yusu cried, "But now you have no monsters either! So what was the point?" Yusu felt angry that he had lost all of this monsters.

"Don't worry…" Delaney paused and grinned, "It's all part of the plan! Next I activate the spell Ritual Beast Revenge! If I have a Spiritual Beast and a Ritual Beast Tamer in my banish zone, I can special summon one of them and then destroy a monster you control… So I summon Ritual Beast Tamer Lara (2000 DEF), and then destroy your Grinder Golem!" A black portal opened and a girl with a flaming staff rose out of it. Yusu's golem sparked erratically and blew up.

"This is a very interesting strategy Delaney!" Yusu complimented, "It's going to be very hard to win with all of my monsters banished."

"Well, thank you Yusu!" Delaney smiled, "But you haven't seen anything yet. I summon Ritual Beast Tamer Wen! When she joins the field, I can summon a banished Spiritual Beasts! Join the party, Spiritual Beast Apelio!" Delaney paused, "Now I use Lara and my Apelio… Ferocious lion and tamer of beasts, come together, your powers increased! CONTACT FUSION! RITUAL BEAST ULTI-APELIO (2600 ATK)!" The mighty lion grew, mounted by the Ritual Beast Tamer herself.

"That's one strong monster!" Yusu gulped.

Astral appeared next to Yusu. "Yusu…" he said, "I have an odd feeling… Something's coming…" Astral appeared very worried.

"Astral!" Yusu said out of the side of his mouth, "It's just a fun duel! Nothing is going to happen." Astral sighed and kept silent.

"If you're done talking to your dad's program, I'd like to continue," Delaney went on, "But I'm not done summoning! Now I'll use Wen and Ulti-Apelio…" The little beast tamer began to glow and circled around the beast. "Youngest of the tamers and lion so fierce, join together for the darkness you will pierce…" The mighty lion began to grow even larger as plants began to grow on him. "Come forth, Protector of the Sacred Tree… I call upon thee! Make our foes tremble and flee! Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio (3200 ATK)!" The colossal beast let out a threatening roar.

"A… Fusion Summon…" Astral muttered to himself, "That method seems so strange… But I feel like I've seen it once before…" His eyes widened as he had a rapid flashback of a twin-headed glowing lizard. "What was that?!"

"That's a very impressive monster!" Yusu smiled, "I can't wait to find a way to beat it!"

Delaney giggled. "We'll see…" She grabbed a card in her hand, "Finally, I activate the spell, Ritual Beast Rampage! When I have a Ritual Beast, I can destroy one of your monsters!" She giggled again. "Say goodbye to your Sharkplug!"

"My Sharkplug isn't going anywhere!" Yusu exclaimed as his facedown card flipped up, "I activate the trap, Mechanimal Warranty! This card stops my Mechanimal monsters from being destroyed by card effects for the rest of the turn!" Yusu smiled knowing his monster was safe for now.

"I don't think so!" Delaney yelled, "Gaiapelio can banish Ritual Beast Elder from my hand to stop your trap!" The tamer on the lion's back shot a fiery blast from her staff and destroyed Yusu's trap.

"But that means I'm wide open!" He braced himself for the attack.

"That's right!" Delaney narrowed her eyes and grinned, "Go get him, Gaiapelio!" Gaiapelio released a thundering roar sending booming shockwaves towards Yusu, knocking him to the ground.

Yusu – 800 lp, 4 cards in hand

Delaney – 1000 lp, 1 card in hand

Yusu slowly rose to his feet, "It's not over yet… As long as I have cards in my deck, I know it'll pull through for me! I draw!" He looked at the card he drew and smiled. "I activate the spell, Mechanimal Repair! I can discard a card to add a banished monster to my hand!" The purple vortex reopened and a card flew from it into Yusu's hand. "I add Mechanimal Monkeywrench to my hand! Welcome back, buddy… Next, I summon Mechanimal Sharkplug from my graveyard! I can do this when I control no monsters while he's in my graveyard. But when I do, I take 800 points of damage…"

"But Yusu!" Sierra cried, "That's the rest of your life points!"

"That's alright!" Yusu called back, "Because I summon Mechanimal Scarablock to stop that damage! I have two monsters now… Why not make it three? Come on out, Mechanimal Monkeywrench! Now I tune my level 3 Sharkplug and my level 1 Scarablock with my level 3 Monkeywrench… Mechanical Dragon, with the power of thunder... With metal fangs and strike of lightning! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon (2500 ATK)!" A tornado of scrap appeared and bolted together to for a ferocious dragon. It let out a huge roar as it was struck by lightning.

"That's a nice monster, man…" Delaney said with her hand on her hip, "But it's not strong enough to beat mine!"

"It will be soon!" Yusu smiled, "When Monkeywrench is used for a Synchro Summon, the Synchro Summoned monster gains 1000 attack points (3500 ATK)! And when Bolt Dragon gains attack, I can make your monster lose the same amount!"

Delany interrupted, "Gaiapelio! Stop that effect and destroy his dragon! I banish another Elder from my hand to do so!"

"That's not happening!" Yusu smiled, "A synchro monster summoned with Scarablock is unaffected by card effects during the turn it's summoned!"

"You what?!" Delaney's eyes widened and her arms dropped.

"That's right! So your Gaiapelio still loses 1000 attack (2200 atk)! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon! Attack Gaiapelio! Bolt Stream Charge!" Yusu's dragon became enveloped in lightning and charged at the lion. The shockwave from the attack knocked Delaney to the ground.

Yusu – 800 lp

Delaney 0 lp

Yusu walked over to Delaney and outstretched his hand, "That was an amazing duel!" She grabbed his hand and he helped her up. "That really was a cool monster!"

"Thanks, man," Delaney smiled as she got on her feet, "I really thought I had you. Most people can't do a thing when I banish their deck." Yusu smiled "I can see how you beat Nick now!"

The air grew extremely cold. Cold enough for everyone to see their breath. "It's happening!" Astral called out. "Something's coming!" A thick mist appeared in the center of the plaza. All of the bystanders ran off, leaving only Yusu and his friends.

A tall light-blue haired man in a long white coat emerged from the mist. He pointed to Yusu, "You're Yusu Hokuma!" He yelled, "Tell me what you know about Negative Number cards!"

"I— Uh—" Yusu hesitated, "I don't know anything about them. I just dueled someone who used one. That's it. Who are you even?" He was chattering from the cold.

"The name is Kotta Kokoro…" He popped his collar and put his hands in his pocket, "And I know you know something!" He clenched his fist and a razor shark icicle formed from an apparatus in his sleeve. "Tell me now, or I will end you!" He charged at Yusu, the sharp point aimed right at Yusu.

Naka lunged at Kotta and hit his arm, breaking the tip of the spike. "Don't you dare hurt my friend, ya asshole!" Naka swung his arm back for a punch, but Yusu grabbed his fist.

"That's enough, Naka!" Yusu yelled. Naka relaxed his arm and grunted at the man. "Now listen Mr. Kokoro…" Yusu continued, "I don't know what you're problem is, but instead of hurting me, maybe we could settle with a duel!" Yusu held up his duel dish and a purple straight blade appeared.

Kotta stared at him in silence. "If it's a duel you want…" He began "It's a duel you'll get! Then when I win… You will tell me everything I want to know!" He violently raised his arm and a long pointed blue blade appeared from his duel disk. "Let's duel!"

The air grew even colder. "W-why is it so cold?" Yusu shivered.

"The cold…" Kotta paused, "Withstanding the cold of winter develops vigor in anticipation of the relaxing days of spring… And when my job is done… I will hopefully be able to enjoy those days again…"

"What do you mean?" Yusu tilted his head, his teeth chattering.

"It does matter…" Kotta continued, "I draw!" He slammed a card onto his duel blade. "I activate the field spell, Mountain of the Ice Barrier!" The plaza faded. They were now on the peak of a giant frigid mountain. "When it's activated, I can add an Ice Barrier monster from my deck to my hand!" His deck shuffled and a card popped out into his hand. "I add Duelist of the Ice Barrier and immediately summon him from my hand! I can do this when I control no monsters! Next, thanks to Duelist's effect, I add the tuner monster Protector of the Ice Barrier to my hand!"

"A tuner." Yusu smiled, "So you're going to Synchro summon!"

"You'll see soon enough, kid!" Kotta went on, "I summon the monster I just added!" A huge ice spike jutted from the ground and shattered, reveal a large black knight. "With him on the field, I can discard an Ice Barrier monster to increase his level by 1! Say Goodbye, Monk of the Ice barrier! I can increase his level again by sending an ice barrier monster from my deck to the graveyard (lv 5)!"

"Just like my tuner…" Damian said to himself.

"I tune my level 3 Duelist with my level 5 Protector! Subzero dragon who protects the barrier… I call upon thee to freeze my enemies dead in their tracks! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Kholder, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (2900 ATK)!" An even larger ice spike popped out of the ground. Two giant wings smashed out from the spike and the dragon broke free from the spike with an immense roar.

"A Synchro summon on your first turn!" Astral said shocked.

"That's right, Astral," Kotta smiled. Astral was stunned that Kotta knew his name. "And there's more! Thanks to my field spell, I can use monsters in my graveyard as Synchro material by banishing them!" He flipped his hair with his hand. "I banish my level 7 Champion of the Ice Barrier and my level 3 Protector of the Ice Barrier… Synchro Summon! Level 10! Nidavellir, Fortress of the Ice Barrier (3500 def)!" A giant icy citadel rose up into the air and connected to the mountain.

"A Level 10 Synchro Monster…" Yusu's eyes widened. "I don't think there's a monster in my deck strong enough to beat that…"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Astral's Lesson, The Power of Xyz

"I banish my level 7 Champion of the Ice Barrier and my level 3 Protector of the Ice Barrier… Synchro Summon! Level 10! Nidavellir, Fortress of the Ice Barrier (3500 def)!" A giant icy citadel rose up into the air and connected to the mountain.

"A Level 10 Synchro Monster…" Yusu's eyes widened. "I don't think there's a monster in my deck strong enough to beat that…"

"Nonsense!" Astral said calmly, "This Synchro summon is a very powerful, but they have one flaw compared to Xyz monsters…" Astral looked at Kotta's monsters. "While the materials of Xyz monsters share a similar balance in power, the materials of Synchro monsters have an imbalance in power…" Astral pointed to Kotta's fortress. "The materials used for that monster were level 3 and level 7… Such an imbalance in power will surely lead to its downfall!" Yusu looked at Astral and raised his eyebrow.

"Those are some big words, Astral," Kotta grinned, "But I guess Yusu will just have to try and prove your point!" He slapped two cards face down, "Your turn, runt!"

"I draw!" Yusu smiled, "I normal summon, Mechanimal Monkeywrench!" A mechanical ape danced onto the field. "And when a Mechanimal is summoned to my side of the field, I can summon Mechanimal Compound Cobra from my hand!"

"Two level four monsters!" Kotta grunted, "Now let's see that negative number!" He rubbed his hand together.

"I don't have one!" Yusu yelled. Kotta clenched his fists with impatience and disbelief. "I tune my level 4 Compound Cobra with my level 4 Monkeywrench! Machine-driven Dragon, strike down with the power of thunder... and metal fangs that strike with lightning! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon! **"** The dragon bolted together and bellowed a ferocious roar.

"Stop wasting my time with your Synchro monsters!" Kotta growled.

"With all due respect, Mr. Kotta," Yusu took a deep breath, "I don't know what you know about me… But I don't have a Negative Number…" Yusu paused, "Now… If I may… When monkey wrench is used for a synchro summon, the synchro summoned monster gains 1000 ATK (3500 ATK)! And when Bolt Dragon gains attack, your monster loses the same amount!" A surge of lightning rolled towards Kotta's Dragon.

"I don't think so!" Kotta yelled, whipping his hand towards his dragon, "I activate Kholder's effect! I can declare a card type, and until the end of the turn, its unaffected by effects of that card type!"

"No!" Yusu gasped.

"Yes!" Kotta smiled sternly, "I declare monster! My dragon's attack is unchanged!" Kotta let out a chuckle, "And now I activate Nidavellir's effect! I can tribute it so special summon a Synchro monster from my extra deck!" The fortress crumbled and a giant three headed dragon rose to its place. "I Synchro summon Level 9, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!" The dragon let out 3 simultaneous roars. "When this card is summoned, I can banish a card on your field, a card in your graveyard, and a random card in your hand! I chose your Bolt Dragon and Monkeywrench!" Yusu's three cards swirled into the purple vortex.

"Bolt Dragon!" Yusu wailed.

"Do you still feel the same way about Synchro monsters, Astral?" Kotta laughed with his arms crossed.

"My point still stands!" Astral said firmly, "Yusu, set that card! This duel isn't over!"

Yusu looked at the card in his hand and smiled, "You're right, Astral! I can't duel like this! I need to get a grip!" Yusu slapped his card down. "I end my turn, Kotta!"

Kotta snarled impatiently. "I attack you directly with my dragons! If you won't summon your number, then I will end this duel and take it before you can even summon it!" Kotta's Dragons charged their attacks and sent four giant beams of ice towards Yusu.

"I activate the trap, Mechanimal Guard! This lets me summon a Mechanimal from my graveyard! I'm sorry Compound Cobra, but I need you!" The metallic cobra clanked out of the graveyard and sprang in front of Yusu to block Trishula's attack. "Thanks, buddy…"

"WELL YOU'LL STILL TAKE DAMAGE FROM KHOLDER'S ATTACK!" Kotta bellowed. The ice beam hit Yusu, sending him flying. "Since I can't end it now, I'll force you to summon your number!" Kotta slammed down his card in an impatient rage. "I activate the spell, Summon Lockdown! As long as this card is on the field, neither of us can summon monsters except for the type I choose! And I chose Xyz monsters!" Kotta narrowed his eyes. "Now you have no choice but to Xyz summon!"

Yusu – 1100 lp, 2 cards in hand

Kotta - 4000 lp, 4 cards in hand

Yusu slowly rose to his feet, shivering in pain. He could no longer feel his fingers from the cold. "I d-draw!" he chattered, "I summon Mechanimal Towrantula (Level 5/2100 ATK)!" A giant robotic spider crawled onto the field. "When Towrantula is summoned, I can special summon a Mechanimal from my graveyard, and increase its level by 1! Come back one more time, Compound Cobra!"

"Two level 5s!" Kotta smiled again, "Now let's see that Number!"

Yusu sighed and squinted at Kotta. "I o-overlay my Level 5 Towrantula and Compound Cobra to build the overlay network! I Xyz summon Mechanitile Gigawatt Dragon (2800 ATK)!" The ground in front of Yusu began to spark. I flashing metal dragon rose from the sparks, lit up by pulsing lights on its body. It was clear the Yusu was uncomfortable with his Xyz summon.

"My dad gave this card…" Yusu continued to Kotta, "I never thought I would use it… But now I don't have a choice…"

"Wait…" Kotta paused, "You really don't have a negative number… do you? You definitely would have summoned it just now if you did…" Kotta looked down as his eye twitches slightly. "I've wasted enough of my time here! If you truly know nothing of the Negative Numbers, then I must go. I'm afraid I'll have to cut this duel of ours a little short, Yusu!" Kotta whipped his hand straight up, summoning a whirling blizzard around him. When the storm had vanished, so had he. As soon as he was gone, it had instantly warmed back up.

"Kotta…" Yusu muttered to himself.

"Yusu!" Sierra yelled as they all ran up to him. "Are you alright?" She grabbed his hand but quickly let go after looking at everyone else.

"I'm alright…" Yusu replied, his shivering had stopped, "There's something up with that Kotta…"

"You mean like how he tried to KILL YA, MATE?" Damian yelled waving his arms angrily.

"No, no… not that…" Yusu paused, and turned away from his friends, "I could see it in his eyes. He didn't want to hurt me… But it seemed as if he had no choice…" Astral's eyes widened and he quickly disappeared into the pendant. Yusu looked at the melting half-frozen fountain where Kotta was and then back at his friends. "But he's gone and we're all safe, and that's all that matters!" Yusu smiled

"But still," said Naka sternly, "There was seriously something wrong with that guy… And I don't think we've seen the last of him either." He looked worriedly at Yusu.

"Right now I need to focus on the Atlas League Tournament…" Yusu ran his hand through his hair. "We'll worry about Kotta if the time comes." Yusu looked over where Kotta was again and sighed. The gang went their separate ways and headed home.

Meanwhile, Sadow and a strange girl were watching out of a high window near the plaza. "So that's Yusu Hokuma…" The girl said, "So he is just as powerful a duelist as you said, Sadow… But who was that man he was dueling?" She looked out of the corner of her eyes at the boys.

"That's correct," Sadow puffed, "He could be a big thorn in our sides as we go on with our plans." He closed his eyes and sighed.

The orange-haired obelisk appeared behind them. "But he may also be our greatest asset!" He grinned. "And I know just how he is going to help us!" He held up a black card and began to laugh. "As for that man… I do not know… But he is no threat to us!"

"Whatever you say…" She looked down with a concerned face.

"Don't worry, Tamashi…" Orange smirked, "Leave it all to me!" He began to giggle hysterically again.

Later that evening, Yusu was laying in his and Naka's dorm room looking through his deck as Naka was fast asleep. He stared at his Xyz card. "Why did my dad give this to me…? Synchro summoning is all I know…" he said to himself, "When my dad gave me this card… When he gave me my Mechanimal deck…"

*I couldn't think of a way to transition to this flashback*

"Here you go, Yusu!" said Yusu's dad with a smile, "A brand new deck that I developed! They're called Mechanimal!" He handed the deck over to little Yusu.

Yusu shuffled through the deck ecstatically. "Oh boy! This deck is so cool! I love the Synchro monsters!" Yusu kept shuffling until he noticed a black card. "What's this? I don't like to Xyz summon, dad!" Yusu seemed disappointed at the thought of even having an Xyz monster in his deck.

"Now son," his dad smiled, "I know how much you love to Synchro summon, but remember, Xyz and fusion summoning are also very powerful methods too. Take these too… They might help you some day." He handed over another black card and a purple card.

*End flashback*

"Dad gave me these cards…" Yusu went on, "Maybe I should start using them. But Synchro summoning is all I know…" The pendant on Yusu's desk began to glow and Astral appeared.

"Yusu!" he exclaimed, "I've been thinking a lot about these Negative Numbers. We don't know much about them…" Astral paused and looked at the pendant, "…So I think that we should collect them. If that Kotta was looking for them, there must be more out there. And the more we find, the more we will know about them!"

Yusu stared at his deck in silence, the looked at Astral and began to speak. "You're right, Astal. But I don't think I could do anything against them with my current playstyle." He looked at his Xyz monster and then back at Astral.

"While that may be correct…" Astral paused and Yusu squinted, "You can get better… I will teach you the ways of Xyz summoning."

"But I already know how to Xyz summon!" Yusu puffed.

"Correct." Astral went on, "But just because you know how to Xyz summon, does not mean you know how to use them properly." Astral looked at Yusu's deck. "However, I have a request."

"Oh?" Yusu tilted his head, "What's that?"

"In return for me teaching you how to Xyz summon... I'd like you to teach me how to synchro summon." Astral sighed, almost as if he was embarrassed to ask for this kind of help.

"If you're looking for a Synchro summoning expert," Yusu smiled and pointed his thumb to his chest, "Then you've come to the right place. I'd be happy to teach you how to Synchro, Astral!"

Astral smiled, "Then our lessons will begin right now!" He grabbed Naka's duel disk and they headed outside to duel.

"Now we're going to have to be quiet," Yusu whispered, "It's technically against the rules to be dueling at this hour."

"I see…" Astral said, his arms crossed and eyes closed, "This duel is more important that rule… Let's duel!" He raised his duel disk. "I draw!" He paused. "As you know, you need at least two monsters of the same level to Xyz summon." Yusu nodded. "But it is important to try and get both those monsters on the field as fast as possible. Observe!" Astral grabbed a card in his hand. "I summon the level 4 Utopic Guard!" A white and gold armored warrior appeared on the field. "And when I summon a Utopic monster from my hand, I can summon the level 4 Utopic Sentry from my hand as well!" Astral looked to Yusu and smiled. "Now I overlay my level 4 Guard and Sentry to build the Overlay Network! Come forth, heroic protector of light! Utopian Sunrise!" A duel wielding, gold and white Knight descended from the sky and gave of a lustrous glimmer. "With the right monsters, Yusu, anything is possible. Now show me the power of your Synchro summon!"

"Wow, Astral! That was really impressive!" Yusu exclaimed as he drew, "My turn! Just like with your Xyz summon, it's important to get all your materials on the field quickly! I summon Mechanimal Chain Cheetah!" A mechanical cheetah with a chain for a tail raced onto the field. "When she's summoned, I can summon a level 2 Mechanimal from my deck!" Yusu's deck shuffled, and a card sprang into his hand. "I summon Mechanimal Pedalion to the field!" Astral smiled. "Now I tune my level 2 Pedalion with my Level 2 Chain Cheetah! I Synchro Summon! Level 4! Mechanitile Giganoles (1500 ATK)!" A metal lizard bolted together onto the field.

"Hmm, Interesting…"Astral pondered, "You synchro summoned a monster that's barely stronger than its materials. There must be more to that monster."

"You're right!" Yusu smiled, "With Giganoles, I double the attack of a monster I control until the end of the turn!" The lizard's eyes began to glow a bright yellow as it became shrouded in a golden aura. "Now Giganoles is strong enough to take down your Sunrise!" The lizard began to scuttle towards Astral's monster.

"I activate Utopian Sunrise's effect!" Astral called out, "When this card is attacked, but detaching both of its overlay units, I can negate the attack and destroy your monster!" The knight raised his shield and bashed it into the charging lizard.

"Giganoles!"

"Furthermore," Astral continued, "You take damage equal to half of Giganoles' attack!" An outline of Giganoles made of yellow light appeared in front of Yusu and lunged at him.

Yusu – 2500 lp, 5 cards in hand

Astral – 4000 lp, 4 cards in hand

"That's some effect…" Yusu set down a card, "Your turn!"

Astral drew his card. "Yusu's field is clear of monsters…" He said to himself, "Those face downs are worrisome, however… But I attack you directly!" He yelled as he pointed at Yusu.

"I activate the trap, 'Reflect, Repair, Reborn!'…" The card flipped up and formed a blue barrier around Yusu. "This trap stops your attack and let's summon a Mechanimal from my grave! Come back Chain Cheetah!" The cheetah sprang from the purple vortex. "And you remember what happens when she's summoned… I summon, from my deck, the level 2, Mechanimal Repairaptor!" Yusu's deck shuffled and another card popped into his hand. A small steel dinosaur appeared on his field.

"Well played!" Astral complimented, "Since I can no longer attack, I'll set a card and end my turn!"

"Well, here goes nothing… I draw!" Yusu looked at his card and then his field and smiled. "I activate Repairaptor's effect! I can tribute it to special summon a synchro monster from my graveyard! Come back Giganoles!" The lizard slowly rose from the vortex. "Next I summon Mechanimal Sharkplug!" A large metal fin ripped across the field and the shark sprang from under the ground. "Next I activate the spell Machine Overlevel to double my Sharkplug's level (lv 6)! I tune my level my now level 6 Sharkplug with my level 2 Chain Cheetah… Machine-driven Dragon, strike down with the power of thunder... and metal fangs that strike with lightning! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon! **"**

"Two Synchro monsters!" Astral's eyes widened, "I may not remember much about dueling or know much about Synchro Summoning, but I do know that that's quite impressive!"

"Heh, thanks," Yusu smiled softly, "Now I activate Mechanitile Giganoles' effect to double Bolt Dragon's attack (5000 atk)!" Giganoles' eyes began to glow yellow and a surge of electricity jolted from it to Bolt Dragon, who became surrounded in the same golden aura. "Now Bolt Dragon comes into play! He can make your monster lose the same amount of attack that he just gained!" The surge of electricity chained from Bolt Dragon to Utopian Sunrise.

"But that's all of his attack!" Astral exclaimed as the power was being drained from his golden knight.

"That's right," Yusu went on, "Bolt Dragon! Attack Utopian Sunrise! Bolt Stream Charge!" Bolt Dragon became enveloped in energy as it charged at Astral's Knight.

Astral grinned faintly. "How foolish…" He said under his breath, "I activate the trap, Overlay Recharge! When my Xyz monster with no overlay units is attacked, I can attach two monsters from my graveyard to it! So I reattach Utopic Guard and Sentry!" Two orbs of light floated out of the vortex and circled around the Knight. "And now that Utopian Sunrise has overlay units again, I can activate his effect to put an end to your attacks!" The knight held up his shield and bashed Bolt Dragon away. "And now you take half of your dragon's attack points as damage! This is the power of Xyz, Yusu!" The knight's shield absorbed rays of light until it was glowing a blinding white which blasted towards Yusu.

"Woah!" The light blasted Yusu back.

Yusu – 0 lp

Astral – 4000 lp

"Your Synchro monsters are very offensive…" Astral said sternly, "And while the strategy I just used was more defensive, you need to find a good balance between offense and defense or we will stand no chance against the Negative Numbers…" He crossed his arms.

"You're right, Astral." Yusu admitted, "That's just the first strategy that my dad taught me when I first got this deck" He pulled out his Xyz card with a tear in his eye. "But if we want to find out more about these Numbers, then I'm going to have to use some new strategies."

"Indeed," Astral smiled, "This lesson was quite informative for me. Just as I hope it was for you!"

"Yes it—" Just as Yusu began to speak, the pendant began to glow and Astral disappeared and Naka's duel disk fell to the ground. "What was that?" Yusu turned to see Headmaster Atlas standing over him with is arms crossed.

"Do you realize what time it is?" He asked impatiently.

"Sorry sir. I was just—"

"I don't want any excuses!" Jack snapped, "Just get back to your dorm, or I will remove you from the tournament!"

"Yes, sir…" Yusu picked up Naka's duel disk and shuffled to his room.

"As if I would actually do that…" Jack said to himself as Yusu was walking away, "After all… He's going to be the star of the tournament!" He chuckled as his eyes made a quick faint purple glow.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Round 1, Wild Wild Duel

Yusu opened his eyes to see nothing but the familiar darkness. "Is this that dream again?" He looked around to find the light that he knew would show up again. "This feels so real." The light appeared, as if on Que. But this time, it was even closer.

"The darkness, Yusu… It is here…" The light called out, "Wake up, Yusu… Wake up, and find the power…" Everything slowly began to fade to white again and Yusu jerked up out of bed.

"That place…" Yusu muttered to himself, "I don't think that's a dream…" Yusu looked over to see Naka looking at him.

"It's about time you woke up!" Naka stood up with his arms crossed. "Get ready! We need to get to the New Duel Palace! They're announcing the match ups for the first round!"

"Oh!" Yusu exclaimed as he sprang out of bed, "You're right! I hope I duel today!" He quickly got ready and they made their way to the Duel Palace.

The palace was crowded. The stands were filled with fans from all over the world. As everyone settled in their seats, the announcer began. "Ladies and gentleman! Welcome to the first ever Atlas League World Cup! I'm Jonathan Jafari, and I'll be your Master of Ceremonies for this event! Now… without further ado, let's get right into the action!" Duelists started marching onto the field in groups of 5. "We have 5 different schools from around the world competing in this tournament. First up, we have our very own Paradise City Duel Academy!" Yusu and the others walked to the center of the arena. "Next up, from Japan, it's the Iwatari Dueling School!" The five lined up next to the others. "Third we have the prestigious Birmingham Duelist Institution all the way from the UK!" Five students dressed in nice uniforms joined the line. "Next, we have the Berlin Duel Academy from Germany! And finally, last but not least, also from the US, it's the Los Angeles Duel School!" All 25 students were lined up in the center dueling field. Jon went on, "Let's get right to the matchups!" He motioned to the big screen. "There will be nine duels in the first round, and seven duelists will be getting byes to the second round. Now here are the match ups!" 18 duelists appeared on the screen in groups of 2. Yusu was nowhere to be seen on the screen.

"I'm not up there…" Yusu said to himself, "I must be going straight to the second round…"

"Our first match of the day will be Nick Grath of Paradise Duel Academy against Elijah Williams of Los Angeles Duel School! Let's get right into the action!" Some time passed after all the duelists left the field.

A few minutes passed before Nick and Elijah made their way onto the field. "Welcome to the first duel of the Atlas League World Cup!" Jon started, "This is a big duel for Nick, after his loss to the novice duelist, Yusu Hokuma, as he takes on Elijah in this comeback duel! Let's get this duel started!"

"So you're the famous Nick Grath." The duelist in the black vest and blue plaid shirt said in a thick western accent. "Well, I don't expect this duel to last long. Especially after that embarrassing loss of yours." He cracked his neck with a smug grin on his face.

"I refuse to be embarrassed of my loss to Yusu!" Nick yelled crossly. "Yusu is a very skilled duelist, and I am proud to say that I lost to him! And on top of that, I wasn't myself in that duel…" Nick paused, "If you don't believe me, then I'll just show you through our duel!" He held up his duel disk, "Let's duel!"

"Since you feel so strongly of your skills, I'll let you go first." Elijah crossed his arms.

"If that's how you feel… Then I draw!" Jack Atlas and the Orange-haired Obelisk were watching the duel from the highest room of the Duel Palace. "First off, I normal summon Ojama Orange in defense position!" Nick began, as a small orange beast in a red speedo danced onto the field.

Elijah looked in disgust. "What's that thing supposed to be? Its hideous!"

"Hey!" Nick scolded angrily, "He's beautiful on the inside!" Elijah scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Anyways… When this card is summoned, I can summon an Ojama from my deck in face down defense position! Come on out, Ojama Blue!" A blue beast in the same fashioned speedo danced onto the field and flipped into a face down card. "Next, I end my turn with two face-downs."

"Ha! Is that it?" Elijah mocked, "Summoning those two No wonder you lost! This duel is going to go quicker than I thought." He drew his card. "First, I activate the continuous spell, 'High Noon Showdown'!" A big western clock tower appeared. "Next I summon Bronco Buster Gunslinger to the field (2000 ATK)!" A cowboy duel-wielding flintlock pistols appeared on the field. Now I'll attack Ojama Orange with my Gunslinger!" The cowboy took aim with his right pistol and shot down the Ojama.

"I activate the trap, Ojamable!" Nick exclaimed as his face down raised up. "When an Ojama monster is, this trap lets me draw two cards!" He swiftly drew the cards from his deck. "But then I have to discard a card. So I'll discard Ojamagic." His card slid into the graveyard. "Furthermore, when Ojamagic is sent to the graveyard, I can add on Ojama Yellow, Black, Green to my hand!" The three cards sprang out of the deck into his hand.

"You can add all the cards to you hand that you want, but it won't help ya none!" Elijah laughed, "Because when a Bronco Buster monster destroys a monster, I can put two showdown counters on 'High Noon Showdown'! And when I get 12 counters on it, you take 4000 points of damage!" The hour hand on the clock tower ticked ahead by two hours. "Now that my Gunslinger has done his job, Ill set 2 cards and end my turn!"

"That's a very powerful card." Nick stated as he drew his card, "But it's not unbeatable! I normal summon Ojama Red!" A red beast danced onto the field. "When this guy is summoned I can summon the 3 Ojamas I to my hand!" The 3 beasts danced onto the field and joined the party. "And finally I flip my Ojama Blue into attack position!" The face down card flipped up into the blue beast and the 5 Ojamas began to dance together. "Finally I activate my last face-down, the quick-play spell, Ojamarch! And with that, until the end of this turn, all of my Ojama monsters gain 500 attack for every Ojama I control!" The Ojamas began to dance together in unison. "I control 5 Ojamas, so now they all have 2500 attack!"

"Well, shoot!" Elijah let out, "Five monsters with that much attack. That's enough for you to win this duel right here and right now!"

"You've got that right," Nick went on, "But I have a feeling that this duel is far from over." Elijah smirked. "Ojama Blue! Attack his gunslinger!" The blue beast sprinted towards the cowboy, sprang into the air, and did a flying kick at him.

"Not so fast!" Elijah yelled, motioning his hand towards his face down, "I activate the trap, "Wild West Bronco Crest" The symbol of a single star in a circle appeared in front of the gunslinger. "This trap protects my monster from destruction!"

"But you'll still take damage!" Blue's kick was deflected, but a small shockwave was still sent towards Elijah. "And now the rest of my Ojamas will attack your gunslinger!" The remaining Ojamas joined hands and charged at gunslinger. A larger shockwave was sent to Elijah, which knocked him down onto one knee. Nick slapped a card face down. "Your move!"

Nick – 4000 lp, 5 cards in hand

Elijah – 1500 lp, 3 cards in hand

"I draw!" Elijah chuckled when he saw the card he drew, "I release my Gunslinger to special summon Bronco Buster Outlaw (2500 atk)!" A tall cowboy dressed in black leather appeared to take Gunslinger's place. "And now my Outlaw will attack your Ojama Red!"

"I activate the trap, Ojama Guard!" Nick interrupted as his card flipped up. "This trap switches all of my Ojamas into defense mode!" All of the Ojamas crossed their arms into X's across their chests.

"It won't matter, because when my Bronco Buster destroys one of your monsters, my High Noon Showdown will get two more counters on it." Elijah pointed to the clock face. "That hour hand is ten ticks away from noon, so that's five monsters that need destroyin'. And by my count, you have 5 monsters. This duel is over! I've won!" Elijah laughed with his hands on his stomach.

"How do you think that? You only have one monster to attack with?" Nick crossed his arms.

"My Outlaw can attack all of your monsters!" Elijah looked out the top of his eyes and leaned forward with a hand on his hip. "That's how I think that, sir! Now Outlaw, finish off that Ojama Red!" Ojama Red's eyes widened as Outlaw took his aim. Red burst into holographic particles and the hour hand of the tower ticked forward 2 more times. "Now for your Ojama Green, Black and Blue!" Outlaw fired three rapid shots to destroy the 3 Ojamas. The clock ticked until it was two hours away from noon.

"You remember what happens when Ojama Blue is destroyed!" 2 cards popped out of Nick's deck and it shuffled. "I add Ojama Purple and Ojama Country to my hand!"

"Like I said before, it won't matter how many card you add to your hand. This duel is over!" Elijah slapped his leg and chuckled. "All I need to do is destroy your last monster! Outlaw! Take out that yellow belly Ojama!" The cowboy took aim at Ojama Yellow and pulled the trigger.

"Not so fast! I activate Ojama Purples effect from my hand!" The Purple beast danced out of Nicks hand and onto the field. "If one of my Ojamas is attacked, by discarding Ojama Purple, instead of being, I can shuffle it into the deck!" Ojama Yellow whirled back to Nick's hand and its card slid back into the deck. "On top of that, I get to special summon Ojama Purple from my hand and end the battle phase!"

"What in tarnation?" Elijah gasped, "I thought this duel was over!"

"You shouldn't have attacked my monsters so recklessly," Nick smiled, "Instead of thinking about what my monsters did, you were just focused on winning. And that may have cost you the duel!" Nick crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.

"Well shoot! I end my turn then!" Elijah reached towards his hat as if he was going to throw it to the ground. But he stopped himself. It's too nice of a hat.

"My turn then…" Nick went on, "I draw!" He looked at the card he drew and smirked. "I activate the field spell, Ojama country!" The arena around them turned into a cliffy area with wackily designed huts strewn about. In the center of the cliffs, remained Elijah's clock tower. "Once per turn, this card lets me discard and Ojama card to special summon an Ojama from my graveyard! I discard Ojamandala to special summon Ojama Blue!" The purple vortex opened up and the blue beast sprang out from it. "Now I activate Ojama Fusion! With this I can send Ojama monsters from my field, hand, or deck to the graveyard to fusion summon a monster!" An orange and blue swirl appeared behind Nick. "I use the two Ojamas on my field, and Ojama Yellow from my deck… Oh, exalted king of the belittled country… Join the ranks to defend the honor of your fallen people! Fusion summon! Level 6! Ojama King (0 atk)!" The ground around them began to rumble as if a stampede of elephants were running towards them. The shaking stopped and the King lunged into the air over the horizon of the highest cliff and landed in front of Nick with a mighty thud.

"Golly!" Elijah gasped, "That things even uglier than the others!"

"What did I say about inner beauty?!" annoyed Nick growled.

"Pfft! whatever," Elijah muttered, "That thing doesn't have any attack points anyways."

"Oh…" Nick paused, "Did I forget to mention? Thanks to Ojama country, if I control and Ojama, the attack and defense points of every monster on the field are swapped. And my King has a whopping 3000 defense, meaning he now has 3000 attack points!"

"B-but my monster only has 1500 defense points!"

"Exactly!" Nick smiled, "Ojama King! Take down that Outlaw!" Ojama King leapt into the air once again with its stomach facing down. He put his arms out as to make a T-shape with his body and landed right on the Outlaw creating a shockwave that knocked Elijah to the ground.

Nick – 4000 lp

Elijah – 0 lp

The cliffs and clock tower disappeared. Nick walked over to Elijah and put out his hand to help him out. Elijah accepted the offer and rose to his feet as the shook hands. "Well shoot! This ain't easy for me, but even I can admit when I've been bested!" Elijah admitted with a half-smile on his face. "I guess I shouldn't underestimate those weaker monsters."

"Well thanks," Nick smiled, "As long as you learned something from this duel, you should be happy! I know I am!" Elijah nodded and grinned.

"The first duel of the Atlas Cup has been decided!" Jon blared over the speakers, "Nick Grath has won with a spectacular comeback!" The crowd cheered loudly.

"Yeah that's our boy, Nick!" a student yelled.

"We never doubted you!" another said ironically.

"If that's just the first duel," Jon continued, "Then I can't wait to see what other spicy-hot, action packed duels are to come!" Jon paused and shuffled through his papers. "The next duel will begin shortly… Let me see here…" Jon shuffled through more of his disorganized mess. "Delaney McMullen Paradise Duel Academy… versus… Adrian Hofmann of Berlin! The match will begin shortly!"

In a waiting room with a huge screen displaying the tournament duels, Yusu and friends were sitting awaiting the next duel to begin. The sat in anticipation for Delaney's duel. Until they heard a sweet voice behind them chime. "Hey guys." They turned to see Delaney.

"Delaney?" Yusu tilted his head, "Your duel starts in a few minutes. You need to be out there!" Yusu could see that Delaney was nervous, so he walked over to comfort her.

"I know," she said shyly, "I'm normally so confident with my dueling… But I heard this Adrian guy is really strong. Undefeated, in fact." She stopped, looked at Yusu, and then back down, "I just don't want to let our school down…"

"Oh Delaney," Yusu laughed, "Dueling is no fun when you worry in anticipation of your opponent. You just need to remember to have fun with your duel. And as long as you believe in your cards, I know you'll make our school proud. Besides… You're an Obelisk Blue. One of the best our school has to offer!" Delaney looked at him and smiled.

"That's just the pep talk I came to you for!" She chimed, "I'll definitely make the academy proud!" She gave Yusu a quick kiss on the cheek, "Thanks, Yusu!" She gave him another quick smile and ran off.

"Well- I, uh…" Yusu was blushing, frozen in place. Sierra dragged him back to his seat.

Delaney finally arrived at the center arena. "Alright, ladies and gentleman!" Jon blared, "Let's get right into the duel! Delaney versus Adrian!"

Adrian raised his eyebrow and smiled, "I can already tell that it's going to be a pleasure to duel you, my dear."

"W-well, I can say the same to you!" She stuttered as she let out a quick smile.

"Please, I'll let you have the first move," He said gentlemanly, "Ladies first!" He bowed slightly and gestured both his hands towards her.

"Thanks, man!" She drew her card and grinned, "First off, I summon Majespecter Raccoon – Bunkuku in defense mode." An adorable raccoon with an orange whirlwind on its back soared onto the field. "When Bunkuku is summoned, I can add a Majespecter to my hand!" Her deck shuffled and the card popped out. "I add Majespecter Fox – Kyubi to my hand… and then I'll use it and Majespecter Crow – Yata to set the pendulum scale! This allows me to summon monsters from level three through four all at the same time!"

"Ah, pendulums!" Adrian chuckles, "Very interesting, indeed!"

"I couldn't agree more…" Delaney continued, "I use the set pendulum scale to summon to summon Majespecter Toad in defense mode!" A caped toad sprang onto the field. "When this card is summoned, I can set a Majespecter trap directly from my deck to my field! So Ill set Majespecter Tempest!" The card flew from her deck right onto her duel disk. "With that, I end my turn!"

"Man, a monster that puts cards directly from the deck onto the field…" His accent seemed to be getting thicker. "Quite impressive. But now it's my turn to impress you!" He firmly placed the card down on his disk. "I activate the field spell, Revolving Switchyard! An array of tracks bolted down around them, all leading to the center of the arena. "And now, by reducing his attack to 0, I can summon Night Express Knight to the field!" A white knight with a large sword and shield appeared, running along a set of tracks.

"Oh geez…" Delaney's eyes widened, "Summoning a level 10 monster without releasing any other monsters?"

"That is right, dear!" Adrian laughed, "And now my field spell activates! When a machine is summoned to my field, I can summon another machine from my deck and make it level 10!" A small train rushed out of the tunnel to the center of the field. "Express Train Trolley Olley, right on schedule!"

"Hold it!" Delaney called out, "I activate the trap, Majespecter Tempest!" Her card flipped up. "By releasing my Toad to the extra deck, I can stop the summoning of your monster and destroy it!" A green whirlwind swished out of her trap right towards Trolley Olley.

"I activate the spell, Derail and Prevail!" he slapped the green card down, "By discarding Snow Plow Hustle Rustle, I can stop your trap and save Olley!" The plow appeared from his hand and crashed down in front of Olley to block the whirlwind.

"Darn!" Delaney snapped.

"Darn, indeed!" Adrian chuckled, "And now I overlay my level 10 Express Knight and Trolley Olley to build the overlay network! Xyz summon! Rank 10! Superdreadnought Railcannon Gustav Max (3000 atk)!" A huge green boxy train appeared on tracks overhead with a huge cannon attached to it.

"T-that's a big train…" Delaney lost her confidence for a second, but remembered Yusu advice and quickly regained it. "Must be overcompensating for something…" She muttered under her breath with a little giggle.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Adrain yelled, gesturing to his train, "Just wait until you see what she can do! By detaching one overlay unit, I can inflict 2000 points of direct damage to you!"

"W-what?!"

The green boxy shell of the train unfolded to reveal a very complex set of mechanisms, two more cannons popped out of the machine and aimed at Delaney. The beams charged and jutted right to her, sending her flying back.

Delaney – 2000 lp, 4 cards in hand

Adrian – 4000 lp, 2 cards in hand

"Unless you can get rid of my glorious piece of machinery on your next turn, there's no way you can win this! I'm sorry, my dear, but that's the truth!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Finally Plot! The Rise of an Empire!

"And now I overlay my level 10 Express Knight and Trolley Olley to build the overlay network! Xyz summon! Rank 10! Superdreadnought Railcannon Gustav Max (3000 atk)!" A huge green boxy train appeared on tracks overhead with a huge cannon attached to it.

"T-that's a big train…" Delaney lost her confidence for a second, but remembered Yusu advice and quickly regained it. "Must be overcompensating for something…" She muttered under her breath with a little giggle.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Adrain yelled, gesturing to his train, "Just wait until you see what she can do! By detaching one overlay unit, I can inflict 2000 points of direct damage to you!"

"W-what?!"

The green boxy shell of the train unfolded to reveal a very complex set of mechanisms, two more cannons popped out of the machine and aimed at Delaney. The beams charged and jutted right to her, sending her flying back.

Delaney – 2000 lp, 4 cards in hand

Adrian – 4000 lp, 2 cards in hand

"Unless you can get rid of my glorious piece of machinery on your next turn, there's no way you can win this! I'm sorry, my dear, but that's the truth!" Adrian laughed. He seemed a tad less gentlemanly now. "Gustav Max! Blast that tiny raccoon from this field!" The machine's middle cannon began to charge again as it aimed towards Bunbuku.

"Man! What's Adrian doing?" Naka sternly asked Yusu, "Doesn't he realize that Bunbuku will go to the extra deck? Delaney can just summon it next turn for its effect!" Yusu looked at Naka and nodded.

He turned back to the display monitor. "Yeah," Yusu replied, "Just like Elijah, he's focusing on destruction, not the duel. And there's no fun in mindless destruction."

A second powerful blast shot from the cannon and destroyed the raccoon. "I pass it over to you with a face-down, my darling." He gestured his hand in a twirling motion to Delaney after setting a card.

"Gosh. That sure is a mighty piece of equipment you have there!" She nervously giggled as she drew. "But I can beat it!" She motioned her hand above her head. "I use the already set pendulum scale to summon Majespecter Toad and Majespecter Raccoon – Bunbuku back from the extra deck!" A portal opened between the floating fox and crow, sending a red orb of light and a green orb of light out of it. The orbs flashed and turned into the toad and raccoon. "You remember what happens when these guys are summoned! I set Majespecter Tornado from my deck to the field with the effect of Toad! And on top of that, Bunbuku allows me to add Majespecter Griffin – Kurugiru to my hand!" The card popped out of her deck and it shuffled. "I tribute Bunbuku to summon the newly added Kurugiru from my hand (2000 atk)!" A giant winged lion with the head of an eagle soared onto the field, a red whirlwind for a tail. "I can sacrifice one of my Majespecters to Griffin each turn… So I offer up my Toad!" Griffin's whirlwind tail swooped over to suck in the toad. "Because of this, Kurugiru will gain attack equal to Toad's attack!" A green tint was added to Kurugiru's tail.

"But that means his attack will be 3300!" Adrian gulped, hiding a tiny smile.

"You got that right, buddy!" Delaney yelled, "Kurugiru! Take down that train!" The griffin took flight again and began to circle around Gustav Max. Faster and faster he flew, until a dark red and green tornado began to engulf the train. The twister lifted the giant machine off its track as the gale force winds began to rip apart the train. The tornado dissipated and the dismantled Gustav Max fell to the ground and burst into holographic fragments.

"My beautiful Gustav!" Adrian's eye twitched, "You will pay for that, my dear! I can assure you that!" His fist was tightly clenched as he managed to keep his suave coolness about him.

"We'll see, man… I set three cards and end my turn!"

Adrian – 3700 lp, 2 cards in hand

Delaney – 2000 lp, 1 card in hand

"That's quite the line-up of face-downs you have there! And a 3300 atk monster to boot!" Adrian smiled, "But it all comes down to this one draw… the fate of our duel… in this final draw… just like almost every duel in this city it seems…"

"Would you just draw!?" Delaney impatiently interrupted.

Without further hesitation, Adrian drew. "It's here…" He said to himself, "From my hand, I activate the spell 'Rank-Up-Magic Superdreadnought Mechanic'! With this I can use my Gustav Max from the grave as xyz material to xyz summon a monster one rank higher than it!" A glowing white outline of the giant train rose from the purple vortex and condensed into a small orb. "I overlay my Gustav Max… Heavy king of the rails… pinnacle of railway technology, surpass you limits so that we may obliterate our opponents! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Rank 11! Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Uber Siegfried (4000 atk)!" A sleek black train with a 2 cannons on the top of its front car zoomed out of the vortex like it was rushing out of a tunnel and caught the glowing orb as an overlay unit.

"Gulp! 4000 atk!" Delaney shook.

"That's right! I told you that you would pay!" Adrian grinned and narrowed his eyes. "Now Siegfried, attack her griffin!" Its tracks wrapped around to make a circle around Kurugiru. The two small cannons focused on the griffin. "And just a heads up, when Siegfried attacks a monster, its effects are negated! Which means that your monster's attack returns to normal!" Adrian laughed uncontrollably. He seemed to have lost most of the previous cool that he had.

"It won't matter! I activate the trap, 'Majespecter Gale'! With it, I destroy my Griffin to summon my toad back from the extra deck in defense position!" Kurugiru burst into fragments, which instantly merged back together to form the Toad. "Thanks to Toad, I can set Majespecter Tornado to the field, which just might save my bacon!"

"You could set a Magic Cylinder for all I care!" Adrian scoffed, "You can't activate a trap the turn you set it!"

"Erm—uh—shoot..."

"I apologize, but you've wasted enough of my time with your foolish stalling!" Adrian slammed down a spell card with forceful grace. "I activate the spell, 'Limiter Removal,' doubling my Machine-Type monster's attack!" The core that Seigfried's cannons were attached began to glow a blinding blue. "What's more, I activate the trap, 'Meteorain,' which means that my monster can inflict piercing battle damage this turn!" Siegfried began to pick up speed as sparks started to fly from beneath its wheels. "Now, my beauty, continue your assault on that toad!" The glow from the core spread to the lights atop the dual cannons as they began to charge. They focused in on the toad and began to fire in rapid alternating bursts. The final blast shattered right through the toad and knocked Delaney to the ground.

Adrian – 3700 lp

Delaney – 0 lp

As the duel and ended and the field faded, Adrian shook his head as if he was coming to his senses. He rushed over to Delaney to help her up. "I deeply apologize, my dear. Sometimes in duels… I lose all control… I do hope you can see it in your heart to forgive a fool such as I…"

Delaney rose to her feet. "Yeah man, it's whatever. I don't worry about it." Adrian smiled. "And stop calling me 'my dear!' It's really weird!"

Adrian gave a deep nod. "Of course, my d- I mean… Of course."

Jon appeared on a giant screen in the center of the palace. "What a way to end it, folks!" He began. "Adrian Hofmann has won it for Berlin and will be moving on to the Second round! We still have seven more duels to get through today, so we mustn't make haste! Onto the next match up…" The duels went on for the rest of the day. Most of them weren't important for character and story development and would've been boring otherwise, so we're skipping them.

The final duel had ended, and Jon began to speak. "That's it ladies and gentlefolk! Charles Walcott of Birmingham has won the final duel of the day with his deck consisting of no monsters! Quite the feat if I say so myself!" Jon paused and the crowd cheered. "It's been quite the action packed day of duels. Monsters were summoned, Life Points were lost! But in the end, we have our nine duelists that are advancing, leaving us with 16 left in the Atlas League Cup! I will see all of your lovely faces back here tomorrow morning for the second round dueling thrills!" As the excitement died down, the palace began to empty. All except for Jack and the orange haired obelisk.

"I feel like this was a productive day!" Jack laughed, his eyes blank. "Wouldn't you say so too, Master Vector?" He turned to the obelisk.

"I can't say that for certain…" Vector pondered, "But I do know that Adrian kid could serve me well on my mission! The way he becomes consumed by anger and destruction when he duels… I must get him a negative number!"

"I apologize, sir, but what exactly is your mission?" Jack asked.

"That really is none of your concern," Vector turned to Jack and squinted slightly, then looked back out the window. "But since you have been such a loyal subject in setting up this little tournament… not like you really had a choice… I shall tell you!" He exhaled heavily. "You see… many years ago, I, along with 4 other Barian Emperors, had planned to destroy a place called Astral World. And we would have succeeded, if not for the interference of an annoying child… and the unprecedented return of our true king… After a series of duels, we Barians eventually allied with humans and abandoned our plans on the destruction of Astral World. Needless to say, I was unhappy… But there was nothing I could do about it…" Vector paused.

"So what did-?"

"DO NOT INTERUPT ME DURING STORY TIME!" Vector spouted angrily, "Anyways, after a many years of siding with the humans, and living on this pitiful rock, I decided it was time to return to my home world. I unfortunately could not convince a majority of the other emperors to come with me. But I did manage to take a few by force!" He gave a twisted smile and let out a little maniacal laugh. "More to the point, we old emperors, along with a few new that I recruited to assist us, have been planning for a very long time… Planning to destroy Astral World… and even this world! And this time, WE WON'T FAIL!" His little chuckle from before had grown into uncontrollable laughter. "Not with these all-powerful negative numbers!"

"But, m-master Vector!" Jack interjected, "That Yusu kid defeated that Negative Number in his entrance exam! Don't you think that he could prove to be a problem?"

"Hey! You're supposed to be a mindless slave!" Vector grabbed Jack by the shoulders, "You should be more… you know… MINDLESS!" Jack shrugged. "No matter, you have done as you were told. And as for Yusu… that first number was simply a test… to see how they affect their holder… that Geargiassaultlord pales in comparison to the power of the other Negative Numbers that I have in store for this world!" He began to laugh hysterically again, as if it were a bad habit.

Yusu, Naka, Damian, and Sierra made their back to campus. "Guys, I duel tomorrow… And after seeing today's duels, I can't wait to see what my opponent has in store for me!"

"That's the way, mate!" Damian patted Yusu on the back, "But if I were in this tournament, then everyone else would've just went home after seeing my first duel!"

"Probably because after seeing such a bad performance, they'd all feel too sick to duel," Sierra burned. Yusu and Naka laughed until Damian glared at them.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Anyways," Naka started, "After seeing the way some of these people duel, don't you think you should alter your strategy or at least plan ahead, in case you duel one of them?" Naka placed his hand on his hip sternly.

"That's not how I do things," Yusu replied calmly, "I already told you that there's no fun in meticulously planning ahead for every duel! I just like to go with the flow and trust in my deck! It hasn't let me down yet."

"But it almost did!" Naka yelled, "That Kotta guy probably would've beaten you if he didn't leave! You're a good duelist, Yusu, but sometimes I don't even know how you got into the academy!"

"Yes you do," Yusu laughed, "I beat Nick in my entrance exam and passed. You were there, remember?"

"GAH! I'm being serious!"

"So am I. You said you didn't know how I got into the academy, so I told you." Yusu smiled.

"What is with you?" Naka asked angrily, "I can't even be near you right now! I'm spending the night at Damian's tonight!" Naka moved to the over side of the group, to be as far away from Yusu as he could.

"Well, you two have fun then!" Yusu didn't seem angry. But he felt a bit sorry for upsetting Naka. The gang split up and went to their dorms, leaving Yusu to spend the night by himself.

After a night of tossing and turning for Yusu, morning finally came. "Naka may be right. All of the students in this tournament seem pretty tough… But there's no fun in altering my deck and strategy just to counter my opponent… But still… Maybe just relying on my deck isn't enough! My monsters have always been there for me… it's about time I be there for them too!" He clutched his deck box attached to his belt. "But there's no time to prepare now. I have to meet Naka and the others!" He quickly got dressed and rushed to his friends.

Later, he met up with his friends outside of the Duel Palace. Naka and the others turned to him as he ran up to them. "Late as usual, I see." Naka raised an eyebrow.

Yusu started, "Naka, I'm sorry about last night. I-."

Naka interrupted, "Just save it, Yusu!" He paused, looked down, and looked back up at Yusu. "I may have overreacted… just a bit."

"No, Naka-."

"Let me finish!" Naka continued, "Anyways. To apologize, I pulled a few strings and got these cards for you." He searched in his bag and pulled two cards out.

Yusu reached out to grab the cards. "Wow… These'll fit nicely in my deck! Thanks, Naka!" He slide the pair of cards into his deck.

"Don't mention it. It's the least I could do for my outburst last night." Yusu nodded and the group headed to the same room as yesterday.

As the crowd began to settle into the stands, Jon started on the screen. "Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the second round of the Atlas League Tournament! Today we have an exciting lineup of duelists for your entertainment! Including our winners from yesterday, and our duelists who got byes! Our first duel will be beginning shortly, so here's the match up!"

"I raring to duel! I hope I get to go first!" Yusu said to himself (Ironically).

A picture of Yusu and a picture of a brunette girl in a red jacket appeared on the screen. "Our very own Yusu Hokuma versus Jamie Anderson of Los Angeles! Please make your way to the field, you two!"

"Jamie Anderson eh…?" Yusu scratched the side of his neck. "She didn't even duel yesterday, so we don't even know what deck she uses…" Yusu paused, "Neat! Wish me luck guys." He waved as he rushed out of the room.

He arrived to the arena to see a short brunette with her duel disk ready. "What took ya so long? I won't be a kid forever, ya know!"

"It's alright, I'm here now," Yusu smiled, "And my monsters are ready to rattle and roll!" He held up his duel disk as the purple blade appeared.

"Alright, Yusu! Let's do this!" The red blade of her duel disk appeared. "Get your game on!"

"I'll assume that's an invitation for me to go first!" He quickly looked through his hand to see what he had drawn. "To start, I summon Mechanimal Overtoad in defense mode (2000 def)!" The crudely assembled mechanical frog sprang onto the field. "When this guy is summoned, I can add a Mechanimal monster from my deck to my hand! Mechanimal Sawtooth Salamander is my choice!" His deck shuffled and the card popped into his hand. "I'll pass it over to you with a facedown!"

"I hope you're ready to lose!" She laughed jokingly as she drew, "I summon Elemental HERO Stratos from my hand!" A masked man with mechanical wings soared onto the field. "When he's summoned, I can add a HERO monster from my deck to my hand! I'm gonna add Elemental HERO Shadowmist to my hand!" The card popped into her hand. "Kinda funny how we started with the same move!" She chuckled.

"A duelist's gotta do what a duelist's gotta do." Yusu scratched the back of his head with his eyes closed.

"Ya…" She paused, I activate the spell, Polymerization to fuse Stratos with the Shadowmist and Sparkman in my hand… Glowing embodiment of justice, unstoppable heroic force… Join us on the battle field and show our opponents the true meaning of justice! Fusion Summon! Level 9! Elemental HERO Core (2700 atk)!" A blue heroic figure appeared before them and took a mighty stance.

"Wow. A first turn fusion summon. Pretty sweet!" Yusu complimented.

"Sure! But I'm not done yet!" She grinned, "I activate Miracle Fusion! By banishing Sparkman and Stratos from my graveyard to fusion summon… Blinding bright example of righteousness, come forth and show us your striking heroism! Fusion Summon! Level 8! Elemental HERO The Shining (2600 atk)!"

"A fusion summon from the grave!" Yusu mouth gaped as he stood in shadow on the two towering heroic figures.

"That's right!" Jamie smiled and flipped her hair arrogantly. "One more thing. The Shining gains 300 attack points for every banished HERO (3200 atk)!" She looked at her two heroes as she threw down the spell. "But wait… There's more! I activate HERO Burst Fusion! By giving up my battle phase this turn, I can fusion summon with monsters from my deck! I send Elemental HERO Clayman and Elemental HERO Bubbleman to the graveyard… Fusion Summon! Level 6! Elemental HERO Mudballman (3000 def – ft. erratum by Soapy_Waffles)!" The less impressive brown and blue ball of mud plopped onto the field to join the fight. "While Mudballman is on the field, all of my HEROs gain 500 atk (Shining – 3700 atk, Core – 3200 atk)!" Mudballman gave off a light blue aura, encompassing the other two heroes as well. "Since I can't attack, I end my turn.

"A fusion summon from the deck too... Huh, neat!" Yusu's brows furrowed, "Let's see what I can do about that, I draw—"

"Intrusion penalty, 2000 life points!" a small robotic voice cut in. A cold fog began to roll in and quickly filled the stadium.

Three familiar roars echoed in the near distance. "SYNCHRO SUMMON! LEVEL 9! TRISHULA, DRAGON OF THE ICE BARRIER!" A familiar voice shouted from above. The thick mist began to clear, revealing Kotta riding down on his three-headed dragon. "This duel is over!" He shouted calmly and confidently, "In fact… This whole tournament is over!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Accel Synchro, Melting the Heart of Ice

"A fusion summon from the deck too... Huh, neat!" Yusu's brows furrowed, "Let's see what I can do about that, I draw—"

"Intrusion penalty, 2000 life points!" a small robotic voice cut in. A cold fog began to roll in and quickly filled the stadium.

Three familiar roars echoed in the near distance. "SYNCHRO SUMMON! LEVEL 9! TRISHULA, DRAGON OF THE ICE BARRIER!" A familiar voice shouted from above. The thick mist began to clear, revealing Kotta riding down on his three-headed dragon. "This duel is over!" He shouted calmly and confidently, "In fact… This whole tournament is over!"

"What's this?!" Jon blared over the speaker, "This can't be happening! Someone call Jacques!"

"That won't matter! All of your security has been disabled by me!" Kotta gritted his teeth, "I'm going to put an end to this tournament here and now!"

"But why, Kotta? Why does this tournament even matter to you?" Yusu asked, holding his arms in the air.

"This goes a lot deeper than you know, Yusu…" Kotta stopped briefly, "I have reasons to believe that this tournament has a connection to the Negative Numbers. That I know for a fact! So I'm putting an end to it!"

"Bullshit!" Yusu barked, out of character, "This is a harmless event planned by Headmaster Atlas to bring all of these schools together! What could that possibly have to do with Negative Numbers?"

"Don't you see, kid? All of the best duelists gathered into one place… Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?"

"It seems alright to me… A chance for all of us students to test our skill! Nothing wrong with that!"

"So naïve… Well there's no point in trying to convince you… I'll just put an end to this with my dueling!" Kotta motioned to his massive dragon. "When Trishula is Synchro Summoned, I can banish 3 cards… So I banish Elemental HERO Core from the field, elemental HERO Bubbleman from the girl's graveyard, and a card from your hand, Yusu!" Core was sucked into the purple void, struggling to escape its pull, along with bubble man and the Monkeywrench from Yusu's hand.

"Don't you get it, guy?" Jamie snapped, "The Shining gets more attack power since you banished more HEROs (3800 ATK)! Idiot…" She covered her mouth to hide her little laugh.

"It doesn't matter little girl… This duel will end soon enough… I attack Overtoad! Go Trishula! Tri-Glacial Rush!" A large dark blue stream shot from Trishula's mouth, along with 2 smaller light blue streams from its other mouths. The three streams began to swirl together.

"I activate the trap… Mechanimal Tune-up!" The face-down flipped up. A barrier formed in front of Overtoad and the beam bounced off. "This puts an end to your battle phase, and my Overtoad is left unharmed. Plus, he's become a tuner!" The mechanical toad began to glow a light green.

"Stall all you want… I end my turn!" Kotta muttered angrily as he set 2 cards face down.

Kotta – 2000 lp, 1 card in hand

Yusu – 4000 lp, 4 cards in hand

Jamie – 4000 lp, 1 card in hand

"My turn for real this time!" Yusu focused as he drew his card. "I've learned a few things since our last duel, Kotta! And I'm going to show them to you!" Kotta scoffed as Yusu said that. "I summon Mechanimal Sawtooth Salamander! Next comes Mechanimal Compound Cobra, which I can summon when another Mechanimal is summoned… Tuning my Level 1 Sawtooth Salamander and my level 4 Compound Cobra with my Level 3 Overtoad… Machine-driven Dragon, strike down with the power of thunder... and metal fangs that strike with lightning! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon!" The whirlwind of metal and scrap bolted together to form the fearsome dragon. "When Sawtooth Salamander is used for a synchro summon, one of your monsters loses 500 atk, and my Bolt Dragon gains that amount!" The Salamander latched onto Bolt Dragon's arm with its saw-toothed tail facing outwards. Bolt Dragon slashed the saw as if it were a sword to slash Trishula, forming a white aura draining from the icy dragon to Yusu's mechanical dragon. "Now Bolt Dragon's effect!" He motioned his hand upwards towards his glowing dragon. "When my monster gains any amount of attack, your monster loses that amount from its attack! Go Mechanitile Bolt Dragon! Bolt Transference!" Jolts of electricity jolted between dragons, causing Kotta's dragon take an injured stance (Trish – 1900 atk / Bolt Dragon – 3000 atk). "Now Bolt Dragon! Melt that Icy Dragon! Bolt Stream charge!" The dragon enveloped itself in electricity and stampeded to Kotta's Dragon.

"My trap activates! Glacial Surge!" Kotta calmly yelled, "When a Synchro monster of mine is attacked, both of our monsters are destroyed before battle… Furthermore, you take damage equal to their combined attack!" Kotta let out a serious hearty laugh. I remembered exactly what your ace card did, So I knew you'd power up your monster… That's why I added this trap to my deck!"

"You used my strategy against me…" Yusu squinted, "Isn't that card I little too good?"

"I am not fooling around, Yusu!" Kotta snapped, "Now take the damage so I can finish off that little girl, and then the rest of the duelists in the tournament!" Both dragons began to glow a bright blue and formed together into a brilliantly destructive ball of light which quickly rushed to Yusu. "It's over for you!"

"Spell Activate! Super Defense Shield!" A French accent yelled. A barrier formed in front of Yusu and partially blocked the ball of light. Yusu, Kotta and Jamie turned to see a tall man in a black uniform. "Zis card cuts all effect damage in half for ze rest of the turn!"

"How dare you interfere!" Kotta growled, "I'm here to end this!"

"Zis is my job… to interfere…" The man replied calmly, "My name is Jacques… Head of security for ze Atlas Corp… it is my job to stop anything that threatens ze safety of zese people… And zat is just what you are!" He stood there, arms crossed, with his dark blue duel disk blade out.

"Intrusion penalty, 2000 life points," a robotic voice from his duel disk called out. The duel disk sent small shocks throughout Jacques' body.

"It doesn't matter…" Kotta continued, "Just another pest that needs freezing…" Kotta, fists clenched, was trying to hide his deep passionate anger.

"Go on with your turn, Yusu… Zis threat shall be eliminated before your next turn…"

"Alright, sir! Since Bolt Dragon was destroyed, Sawtooth Salamander is summoned to the field in defense position by its own effect! And with that, I end my turn!"

Kotta – 2000 lp, 1 card in hand

Yusu – 2550 lp, 2 cards in hand

Jamie – 4000 lp, 1 card in hand

Jacques – 2000 lp, 5 cards in hand

"I suppose it's my turn." Jamie said with a sigh, "I'll normal summon Elemental HERO Doublebacker… And when I normal summon her, I can summon a HERO from my graveyard!" The blue gleaming HERO pulled open the purple portal, and the black and purple HERO arose. "Im bringing back Elemental HERO Shadowmist! And when Shadowmist is special summoned, I add Mask Change to my hand!" Her deck shuffled and the green card popped out. "I'm activating the Mask Change that I just added… This allows me to Fusion Summon with just one monster! I send Elemental HERO Shadowmist to the graveyard… Dark harbinger of justice, appear to banish that villains hope of winning! Arise! Level 6! Masked HERO Dank—I mean Dark Law (2400 ATK)!" A purplish white light swirled in front of Jamie and a ferocious, almost beast-like, purple HERO emerged. "I don't understand why you're here, old-timer, but you've interrupted my duel… And after I take you out, I'll finish off Yusu as well! And remember, Mudballman gives all my HEROs an extra 300 attack points (Shining – 4100 atk, Dark Law – 2700 atk)! Go Shining! Finish off that villain! Radiant Flare Flash!" The sun-shaped crest around The Shining began to blindingly glow until the energy channeled to his fist. He lunged at Kotta, leading with his blinding fist.

"I must admit, it was a cute attempt…" Kotta scoffed, "Trap card! Barrier of the Ice Barrier!" A glowing wall of ice appeared to block The Shining's punch. "This card is summoned to my field as a monster (lv 3 0 atk/0 def) and it cannot be destroyed by battle until my next turn!"

"Stall all you want, man," Jamie said as she rolled her eyes, "You'll just have to wait longer to lose."

"You call it stalling, I call it fighting… Fighting for my life and what I believe in…"

"Whatever… stalling is stalling…" Jamie turned to Jacques, "You're the security expert, Mr. Mustachio, do something!" Jacques quickly picked up his head and widened his eyes at Jamie, fiddling with his mustache self-consciously.

"But of course, little miss," Jacques elegantly grunted as he drew his card, "I shall start of by normal summoning zis little beauty, Super Defense Robot Lio!" The small robotic humanoid lion sprang onto the field. "And due to Lio's effect, I can summon his partner, Super Defense Robot Elephan!" The massive mechanical Elephant appeared on the field with a crash. "And thanks to Elephan, both of my monsters are now treated as Level 8! I shall overlay now! Arial Assailant, it is time once again to protect the defenseless with your wings of justice! Descend! Rank 8! Superior Defense Robot Parrotrooper (3000 atk)!" A large metallic parrot soared overhead. "Now my bird shall attack your Barrier! Go, Machine-Force Gale!" The bird began to erratically flap its clanking wings, each wingbeat creating a more violent gust towards the wall of ice.

"Try as you might…" Kotta muttered impatiently, "As I've said before, my barrier cannot be destroyed until my next turn!"

"Zat is just what I was planning on!" Jacques continued, "When a monster zat Parrotrooper attacked is not destroyed, I can use one of Parrotrooper's overlay units to allow him to attack again, but zis time directly! Go again, Parrotrooper!" He began to flap violently yet again, but this time sending the destructive gales towards Kotta.

"Pointless!" Kotta exclaimed, "While Barrier is on the field, you can only target IT for attacks!" The wall of ice jutted in front of Kotta to block the attack.

"Fine zen… Do what you will…" Jacques muttered, as if he was disappointed in himself, as he set 2 cards face down.

"Now it's time to end this!" Kotta drew his card. "I will now summon the monster, Necromancer of the Ice Barrier from my hand!" A blue-robed Spellcaster appeared on the field in a miniature blizzard. "By tributing Necromancer, I shall summon Trishula back from my graveyard with its effect negated and attack points cut to 0!" The necromancer whirled into a blizzard and disappeared into the ground. A large ice spike projected from the ground where he was. With a mighty roar, the three-headed dragon shattered out of the spike.

"Your dragon has 0 attack points now… Why even bother?" Jamie asked mockingly.

"You foolish child… I don't plan on keeping Trishula on the field for very long! Due to Necromancer's effect, by discarding a monster from my hand, I can make Trishula count as 2 monster's for a synchro summon… and not only did my barrier keep me in this duel, but it is treated as a Synchro tuner monster! I tune my level 9 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier with my level 3 Barrier of the Ice Barrier… Ultimate protector of the tribe of ice… Serpent of Ice whose immense power was sealed away for decades… I now break the seal and unleash you to do my bidding! Accel Synchro! Appear! Level 12! Jormungadr, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!" The whole palace began to shake in a thundering quake. The ground in front of Kotta cracked and an enormous sea-serpent-like dragon broke out of the ground. The dragon's presence alone seemed to drop the temperature to below zero.

"That thing is massive!" Jon blared, "It's destroying the stadium! Do something Jaques!"

"Zat is exactly what I plan to do, Jon… Trap activate! Heavy Defense Blowback! By detaching an overlay unity from my monster, I can destroy your monster!" Orb rotating around the parrot shot into the trap card, immediately sending a bolt out of it towards the serpent.

"Another cute attempt…" Kotta mocked subtly, "But a monster summoned with Barrier as Synchro material cannot be destroyed the turn its summoned!"

"Zut Alors…"

"Jormungadr's ability activates! By giving up half of my life points, I can return every other card on the field back to the hand!" Kotta motioned to his dragon. "Ice Barrier Surge!" A blue aura appeared around Kotta, which was slowly absorbed by his dragon, as his life points were seemingly painfully drained away, causing Kotta to grunt and cringe slightly. Once the aura was drained away, Jormungadr fired a subzero beam of ice towards the ground, creating a shockwave that sent every other card to the hand. "Now to eliminate you pests one at a time… Starting with Yusu!" The serpent focused its gaze on Yusu's blonde and silver head. He fired another freezing beam, but this time at Yusu.

"It's over…" Yusu said under his breath.

"Zis I cannot allow! Because of your direct attack, I can summon Super Defense Robot Leopar!" A spotted robotic cat sprang onto the field and blocked the attack. "By paying 500 life point, Leopar can negate your attack (1500 lp)!"

"What's stopping me from destroying that pesky cat, hm?"

"You can try, but Leopard cannot be destroyed by battle! You have expended your monster's attack anyways, so it does not matter."

"Wrong again! By paying half of my life points, Jormungadr can attack again! And I can do this up to 3 times per turn!"

"And as long as I have life points to pay, I can negate your attacks!"

"Then I shall get rid of all your life points now! Go again, Jormungadr!" The serpent absorbed aura from Kotta gain, sucking away more of his life points (Kotta - 500 lp). The serpent fired a third icy beam at Yusu.

"Block it, Leopar!" The leopard sprang in front of the beam again (Jacques - 1000 lp).

"Again, Jormungadr!" (Kotta – 250 lp)

"Again, Leopar!" (500 lp)

"One last time, Jormungadr! Take out Jacques!" By absorbing more of Kotta's life points, the massive dragon charged one final beam (Kotta - 125 lp).

"Yusu…" Jacques turned to him, "I do not know if it is wise to leave this duel to you… But it is my job to protect you students… And that is exactly what I am doing! STOP ZAT FINAL ATTACK, LEOPAR!"

"Jacques…" Yusu said awestruck, as Jacques gave his last bit of life points.

"I don't think so…" Kotta interjected, "Since this is Jormungadr's fourth attack this turn, I can attack past any monster's that are on the field… Furthermore, the attack cannot be negated!"

"Zis cannot be!"

"But it is!" Kotta continued impatiently, "You've stalled long enough, and just in case you have any other tricks to save Yusu, I'm going to take YOU out instead!" Jormungadr locked onto Jacques and fired its final beam. "Now there will be no more saving you, Yusu!"

Jacques took a direct hit from the ice-cold beam, and he was sent flying back to the wall, hitting it with a loud thud. "I have failed the academy… Do not make a mockery of my judgement, Yusu… Win this…" Jacques said with his last breath, before going unconscious.

"It seems your friend is down for the count… But I've used up all my attacks. So you get one more turn, runt. Not like it will matter… Just more of my time taken." Kotta crossed his arms and huffed slightly.

Jack, Vector, and the other Barians were watching the duel from the high room. "I think it's time our pal Yusu joined us, wouldn't you agree, gents?" Vector laughed as he rocked, putting his arms around Aerin and Sadow's shoulders. He snapped his fingers to point towards Yusu, sending a card shaped silhouette of purple light to his deck.

"You won't win Kotta! Not after Jacques put his faith in me! I draw-." Yusu stopped mid-draw. Purple sparks began to surge across Yusu's body and his deck began to glow a dark purple. "I draw!" Yusu growled violently. "If you control an extra deck monster, and I do not, I can activate this trap from my hand! Mechanical Resurgence! I can now summon Bolt Dragon back from my graveyard in defense position! Come back Mechanitile Bolt Dragon!" Yusu's Dragon bolted out of the purple vortex with a strike of lightning. "And if you think I'm don't there, you're sorely mistaken! Since I control a Synchro monster I can summon the negative level 5 Mechanimal Darkraken from my hand!"

"What?! NEGATIVE level!" Astral exclaimed as he watched the duel with Naka and the others. "This cannot be good…"

"When Darkraken is summoned, I can make Bolt Dragon the same level as him! I overlay my two monsters…" Yusu became enveloped in the same dark aura as Nick when he summoned the Negative Number. "Machine-driven Wyvern, built for destruction, assemble before us as the catalyst of mechanical doom! Xyz Summon! Arise! Rank 5! Number -34: Mechanitile Clockwork Y-Vern!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Duel of Kings

Yusu became enveloped in the same dark aura as Nick when he summoned the Negative Number. "Machine-driven Wyvern, built for destruction, assemble before us as the catalyst of mechanical doom! Xyz Summon! Arise! Rank -5! Number -34: Mechanitile Clockwork Y-Vern (3000 atk)!" Clockwork parts faded into existence with a light purple glow and assembled together to form mangled frame of a mechanical dragon-like creature.

"Yusu…" Astral sulked, "I must do something!" He quickly disappeared to head to Yusu's side.

Naka and the others quickly looked where Astral was and then back at the monitor. "This can't be right," Naka pondered, "Why would Yusu have a negative number?"

Kotta ran both his hands through his long light-blue hair in shock and frustration. "You DO have a negative number!" he snapped, seemingly losing his cool, "I KNEW IT! You were holding out on me kid… I can't wait to beat it and take-."

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?" Yusu interrupted in a small fit of rage. Kotta stopped and shook his head quickly. Even he knew that was out of character for Yusu. "When Number -34 is summoned to the field I can seal every facedown spell and trap on the field! I hope you weren't planning on using them! Go, Clockwork Shift!" The automaton dragon rumbled and sputtered as its red core began to glow, creating the same red glow on every facedown card on the field.

Vector giddily jumped up and down with what seemed like joy. "Ooo yes!" He giggled deeply, "It almost warms my blackened heart to see a child show such unadulterated rage… Almost!" He rubbed his hands together with his legs crossed on the floor as he watched the duel with anticipation.

"So this is the power of the negative numbers…" Kotta muttered to himself, "Such raw power!"

"Are you done?" Yusu asked sarcastically. "If so, I'll go on… Clockwork Y-Vern! Attack Jormungadr!" Y-Vern shook like a wind-up toy as it charged and latched onto Kotta's dragon.

"What's going on here?" Kotta asked, "My monster is stronger than yours… You surely have something planned!"

"You would be right! If Y-Vern has a synchro monster attached to it, it can't be destroyed by battle! I may still take damage from the attack (Yusu - 1550 lp), but this allows me to activate Y-Vern's other effect!" Yusu motioned towards his machine, currently latched onto the serpent. "When this destructive machine attacks a monster, but doesn't destroy it, I can detach one xyz material from it… And when I do that, the monster that Y-Vern attacked is destroyed… AND WE ALL TAKE DAMAGE EQUAL TO ITS ATTACK! Go Y-!" The pendant in Yusu's pocket began to glow.

Astral began to speak to Yusu from within the key-shaped pendant, "Yusu! You must stop this immediately! Do not let the number control you!"

"It's too late Astral…" Yusu paused and gave a twisted smile, "Too late for me… Too late for all of us!" Yusu was about to continue his attack. But before he could everything faded to black like in his dream. The pitch blackness repeatedly faded to white and then back again.

The strange voice began, "Yusu… This is the power…" A tingling sensation flowed through Yusu's entire body, as if the light and darkness within Yusu were in a continuous battle. "Embrace this power… but do not let it consume you…" The voice stopped for a moment, "CONTROL IT!" The white light became blinding. Yusu closed his eyes, and when he opened them he was back at the duel.

"I…" Yusu was lost for words, the purple aura slowly fading. He was trembling, unsure of what to do. "Astral, I've got this!" He suddenly seemed more confident, as if the darkness was beginning to completely fade away. The pendant began to glow again, along with the core on Y-Vern's chest, as if the pendant was purifying it.

Astral gave a reassuring chuckle. "Do it, Yusu!" Seeing the light inside Yusu, he felt more comfortable with Yusu having the number.

"Go Y-Vern! Automaton Blast Burn!" The core on the mechanical beast's chest began to crack and spark. Erratically gleaming until the blinding light turned into an explosion, bringing the serpent down with it, sending a large shockwave to all 3 duelists. Yusu seemed unfazed. "I activate the effect of Mechanimal Scarablock! By summoning this card, all effect damage I take becomes 0!" The small scarab sprang up. Revealing its wings, the rapid flaps repelled the shockwaves from Yusu, keeping him safe from harm. With nothing to protect them, Jamie and Kotta were sent flying back.

Kotta – 0 lp

Yusu – 2550 lp

Jamie – 0 lp

The crowd sat in silence as the solid vision began to fade and the temperature rose. They seemed awestruck by the sheer violence displayed in that duel. Until suddenly, a lone cheer was cried enthusiastically, "What a way to end it!" And with that everyone in the crowd began to roar with excitement, not the danger of what they just witnessed. Yusu's name was finally out there. People were recognizing him as the spectacular duelist his friends knew he was. Before anyone could react further, a thick mist appeared around Kotta as he stood up.

"This isn't over! Now that I know you have a Number, I'll be coming back for you!" He became completely shrouded in this mist as the crowd sat in silence yet again. The missed faded, no trace of Kotta.

Jon began over the mic. "Yusu has defeated the mysterious intruder, along with his actual opponent! I don't know what the rule books say about this, but we may have to call the results of this duel null and void! What with the intrusion and all…" The crowds roaring cheers turned in to muttering gossip. Would Yusu and Jamie have to duel again? The murmurs continued until Jack's face replaced Jon's on the big screen.

"It's Jack Atlas!" Someone in the crowd yelled excitedly. Some lighter cheers came out before the complete silence in anticipation for Jack's announcement.

"Attention, duelists and spectators! Although that was quite the spectacular duel… I feel that it would only be safe to cut this entire tournament short!" Jack paused as the crowd gasped, "I fear that if we continue, there could be another attack. I will get my best team to investigate today's events… But for now, the tournament is cancelled!" The muttering amongst the crowd began to pick up. "Thank you, but that is all." The screen quickly cut back to Jon.

"I'm sorry, folks… But you heard it straight from the Duel King himself…" Jon said with a tone of disappointment, "I hope to see you all back here next time for the rebirth of the Atlas World Cup! Until then, this has been Jonathan Jafari… SEE YA!" A touch of his repressed thick New York accent began to show before the screen faded to black.

Yusu quickly ran to his friends, suddenly remembering his opponent. He turned his head to her as he ran. "I'm sorry to cut it short, Jamie, but I have to go! It was a fun duel though!" He rushed to the room his friends were being kept in. He opened the door and his friends all turned to him in silence.

"What the hell was that?" Naka barked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine… I just can't believe that Kotta just crashed my duel like that."

"Maybe I can…" Damian muttered.

"What do you mean?"

Damian looked up at Yusu, he seemed serious for once. "Mate…" He answered with a strange tone, "Don't you think it's weird that a Number showed up in your deck? During the very same tournament that Kotta said was connected to the Negative Numbers!" The group looked at him as if they were shocked he said something semi-intelligent.

"I can't explain it…" Yusu grimaced, "You could have something there, but it just doesn't make sense…" Yusu grabbed his head to try and calm the storm of a headache he had.

"Maybe we should just go home," Sierra smiled a bit. She wanted to lighten the mood, but it seemed inappropriate. "Maybe… it'll be more clear after some sleep…?" She trailed off as she noticed no one was listening. The group left the room as a security camera watched their exit.

In another room, Vector and Jack were watching the security footage as the friends left. "The dumb one has seems to have caught on to my plan," Vector huffed with a slight giggle, "It's a good thing I decided to cut this little tournament." He gently ran his nail down the side of Jack's face, as if to taunt his inner consciousness. "We have all we need anyways… I know exactly what to do with this EXTEMELY POWERFUL Number cards!" He began to cackle as numerous glowing cards appeared before him. "All starting with that young blue…"

The next morning had come around and classes were to resume normally. Yusu awoke to Astral to staring at him at the end of his bed again. Yusu, creeped out, sprang up, "Must you do that?!" he fretted, "It's kinda creepy, you know that?"

"I apologize." Astral stated calmly as usual, "But I am very curious to something…"

"What exactly would that be?"

"The events that took place in your duel with Kotta…" He resumed, "Where exactly did the Number come from… And furthermore, why did it seem like you were able to 'purify' that number?"

"I couldn't tell you, man," Yusu answered, knowing it was a rhetorical question, "But when I summoned the number, it felt as if my mind was brought somewhere else…" He was clutching the pendant. "I've been to that place before… But ever since I found this pendant- and you- I've been brought there more often…"

"Your mind? What exactly did this place look like?" Astral had grasped his chin.

"All I remember is darkness… And a voice calling to me… telling me to embrace the power of the number… That's all I remember."

"How peculiar, maybe—."

Yusu's friends began to bang on the door, "Come on Yusu, we're going to be late for class!"

"Sorry, buddy," Yusu assured, "We'll continue this talk later!" Yusu began to get ready hurriedly.

"Hmmm… this place… this all seems so very familiar…" Astral murmured to himself.

Class had begun. Advanced Deck Assembly with Professor Murray. The old white haired man lectured at the front of the room about probability and card ratios. Yusu, Damian, Naka, and Nick all in a row together. The lecture was interrupted by a brief phone call. "Erm, Nick Grath," Murray coughed, "You've been called to Headmaster Atlas' office. If must be of utter importance to take you away from my wisdom," The professor continued the statement with incoherent muttering and gibberish.

Kids in the backrow jeered. "Maybe he's finally getting kicked out… He doesn't deserve to be here after all… losing to a newbie like he did…" Nick glared at them as he left the room.

"I don't like this…" Damian mumbled under his breath. He raised his hand to call the professor's attention. "Professor Murray! May I be excuuuused, I really have to—." He covered his crotch with his hand and twisted his leg, pretending he had to pee.

"Clearly," he guffawed, "But hurry back! I don't need two students missing my life-changing knowledge…" More disjointed ramblings.

Damian crept behind nick at a distance, trying not to be noticed. He fell too far behind him and seemed to have gotten lost. After a bit of searching he found the headmaster's office and peered through the crack of the open door.

The room large and very dim, big enough to hold a duel or two. Behind the desk at the other end of the room stood three people. Nick, Headmaster Atlas, and the orange-haired Obelisk Blue that showed up during his and Naka's tag duel against the dragon users. The Obelisk raised his hand to face Nick as Jack restrained him. Out of his hand came a card shaped glow. Suddenly, a spark! At that moment, Damian knew his theory was true! With a burst of uncharacteristic confidence, and jumped into the room and bellowed, "This ends here, mate! I can't let you taint this academy anymore! Fite me!" He held up his duel disk, the blade of light already out.

"Who?" Vector chuckled, "Little-old me? I don't think I can be bothered to duel such an incompetent duelist such as yourself… Jacky-boy… Take care of this pest would you?" Without hesitation, Jack rushed over with his duel disk already active. Unconscious, Nick fell to the ground. "Now you… and I for that matter… are going to see why they call him "The King"! Such a menacing title… I may take it for myself someday!"

"Enough of this! If you're too much of a coward to duel me, I'll just take on Jack!"

"I'll go first!" Jack began without caution, "I summon Red Resonator (Tuner, lv 2)!" A flaming fiend appeared, holding a tuning fork and a mallet. "And with that done, I can now summon Red Warg (lv 6), but it's attack is cut in half (700 atk)" A fiery wolf-like creature joined the demon. "Red Resonator now my tunes Red Warg… The heaven and earth shall tremble before the king's might. Let the power of the one and only supreme ruler be carved into your soul! Synchro Summon! The savage soul, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend (3000 atk)!" The scorching behemoth arose, bursting from a cloak of a seemingly endless blaze. "Now make your move!" He demanded as he slammed two cards down.

"Y-you summoned your ace monster just like that!" He drew his card and smiled, "Well so can I! I summon the lovely Wightprincess! And when I summon her, the shining light of the Skull family, I can send a Wightprince directly from my deck to the graveyard!" The small girly skeleton forced open the purple swirling vortex as a pile of bones fell into it. "And since Wightprince was sent to the graveyard, I can send 2 more Skull Servant monsters there along with him! Go on, Skull Servant and Lady in Wight!" Even more bones poured into the portal, the pile was beginning to protrude out of it. "Now by sending Wightprincess to the graveyard, she lowers the attack of every other monster on the field by 300 times its level!" The princess disassembled into the ever-growing pile of bones leaving behind a shadowy silhouette of herself. The shadow shattered, creating a burst of light which dimmed the flame of the demonic dragon (800 atk). Jack, straight-faced, had no reaction. "Next comes the spell, One for One! By sending another Wightprince from my hand to the graveyard, I can summon a level 1 monster directly from my deck! It's time for you to meet the real king! It's the one and only ruler of the Royal Skull Kingdom, King of the Skull Servants (0 atk)!" A large purple-robed skeleton emerged from the massive pile of bones and perched atop it. "Another Wightprince was sent to the graveyard… You know the drill!" Yet more bones were assimilated with the pile, causing King to almost reach the ceiling. "King of the Skull servants may not seem like much, but his effect more than makes up for it! He gains 1000 attack points for every Skull I have in the graveyard! And if you've been keeping up, you'll know that there is now a total of 7 (7000 atk)!" A black murky aura appeared around the pile of bones and engulfed the King. "I have to say, it's really been fun, mate. But its time I end this and save our school! King of the Skull Servants! Drag that Dragon to the grave!" The skeleton channeled the black aura into his boney hands and shot it towards the weakened dragon.

"How foolish…" Jack chided. Damian's eyes widened as he motioned towards his set cards. I activate the trap Unbreakable Spirit! Red Dragon Archfiend now gains the attack of your King!" The intense flame reignited, stronger than before (RDA – 7800 atk). "And now the trap, Red Cocoon! By equipping this to my Dragon, the effects of any monsters it battles are canceled…"

"But that means King's attack becomes 0!" Damian realized his mistakes.

"Your hastiness has left a foul taste in my mouth. Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! Blazing Absolute Power Flame!" The aura cast by the now defenseless King seemed to bounce right off of the Hell Born Dragon. The red beast's mouth became engulfed in flames and it sent a steam of fiery destruction right at the Skeleton. It burst right through the king and directly hit Damian, sending him flying as he was set ablaze briefly.

Damian – 0 lp

Jack – 4000 lp

"Oh how absolutely delightful!" Vector burst out, "That's why you're my favorite human, Mr. 'duel king'! But, looking at your competition, that's not saying much…" He walked over to the fallen boy, only somewhat burned by the fires of hell. "I think someone's deserving of a little gift!" He slightly lifted Damian by his chin and held up his hand again and the glowing outline of a card appeared. Before the glow could reach Damian, Yusu, Naka and Astral burst into the room.

"This isn't happening!" Yusu exclaimed, "You're corrupting my friends! I don't know who you are, but when you mess with my friends, you're gonna get an ass-whooping from me!" Yusu felt confident that this was the person spreading around the Negative Numbers. He himself felt so out of character with what he just said, but he just wanted to protect his friend.

"Oh my…" Vector retracted the card and chimed, "If it isn't Yusu… the little brat that managed to escape my control…" He turned Astral, who was floating behind Yusu, "And if it isn't Astral! It most certainly has been a long time!"

"Y- How do you… Have we met before?" Astral floated forward slightly and examined him.

"I seeee… So you've lost your memory again, is that right?" Vector beamed, "You really should stop doing that… Well there's no point in spoiling your little quest in 'returning your memories'… But that quest ends here anyways!" He raised a duel disk. A pink blade appeared, slightly resembling a butterfly wing.

"If you're dueling Yusu," Naka butted in, "Then so am I!" He raised his left arm in preparation to duel.

"So am I!" Damian coughed as he staggered to his feet.

"And the runt still stands… After a blast like that, maybe I misjudged you… And that doesn't happen often…" Vector shook his head and came back to attention, "Well three on one hardly seems fair…" Jack stepped forward with is duel disk ready, but Vector motioned him back. "No… a special occasion calls for some special help! Oh boys!" He called out gaily. Two portals opened and Aerin and Sadow stepped out on either side of Vector.

Aerin laughed, "Not these pathetic excuses for duelists again… Can't we have a real challenge?"

Sadow joined in, "Last time we dueled them, they barely knew what they were doing…"

"Boys please." Vector cut in, flicking both his hands at them. "We all know that duel didn't have a winner… but this one will! And it's going to be us!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The 3v3 Duel that was Hell to Write

"We've seen all your tricks, Yusu!" Vector gave a twisted smile, "There's no way any of you three could surprise us with those predictable decks! So I, being the kind hearted fellow that I am, will allow one of you to make the first move!" He twirled his hand and motioned toward the three friends.

Naka glanced at both Damian and Yusu. "I'll go then!" He commanded, "By discarding Ms. Gaston, Ballistiqueen of the Striker, I'm able to add A.V. the Ballistiqueen Artist to my hand!" The card popped into his hand and his deck shuffled in a swift motion. "I activate the Ritual Spell, Ballistiqueen Photo Op! With this, I Ritual Summon! And what's more, A.V.'s effect allows me to use her as the entire tribute… Lustrous lady with an undying spirit! Carve a path to the end of oppression! Ritual Summon! Come forth! Level 9! Ms. Klashka, Ballistiqueen of the Revolution!" A large woman carrying an enormous rifle crashed down in front of Naka. "I think I've done enough… I hope she's not too much for you guys to handle!"

"I'll take the next move!" Aerin exclaimed hastily, "But don't think for a second that I'm intimidated by that weak card!" He drew his card and grinned, exchanging looks with Vector. "While I control no monsters, I'm able to summon Photon Thrasher (2100 atk)!" A luminous warrior wielding a flashing sword jumped onto the field. "Since I summoned a Photon monster, I can also summon Photon Sage!" A slender robed figure with a similar glow as the warrior appeared next to it. "Due to his own effect, Sage's attack becomes the same as Thrasher's, meaning that they're both packing a whopping 2100 attack points! But they won't be around for long, because I tribute my two monsters… The galaxy that lurks in the darkness. Become the light of destruction and my very servant. The embodiment of light, now descend! Appear now, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" A blinding shine appeared above Aerin. The light slowly morphed into the figure of a dragon and eventually shattered to reveal Aerin's luminescent beast. "Have you ever seen such a magnificent creature? A picture of such absolute perfection!"

Vector glared at him. "We get it, Aerin!" he huffed rather impatiently, "Your dragon is big and shiny! Just get on with it!" His arms were crossed, finger tapping his duel disk.

"Right… Well luckily for you three, I can't attack until we've all gotten a turn…" He slapped a card facedown.

Damian flipped his hair, "My turn then!" He rearranged the cards in his hand and went on, "I'll summon Wightprince in defense mode and end my turn... You're in for a surprise, mate." He set 2 facedowns.

"Wow that's even more pathetic then your moves from our last duel." Sadow mocked as he drew his card. I'll start off by summoning Void Predator (1900 atk)!" A slender bipedal beast with two long razor claws pounced onto the field. "Next, I think I'll have Void Syphon join him!" A diamond shaped crest with a swirling vortex in its center appeared on the field in a thick black mist. "Void Syphon makes the attack of all my monsters 0 when its summoned!" The mist spread over to the predator as it slowly became powerless.

"Is this a joke?" Damian scoffed, "Now both your monsters are worthless!"

"How foolish of you to forget!" Shadow mocked with a laugh, "I tribute my two monsters with 0 atk… Primeval Dragon consumed in the dark! A ceaseless void of which nothing escapes is under my control! Appear, Void-Eyes Primal Dragon!" A dark murky hole opened behind Sadow as his dragon crawled out. The darkness spreading from the beast intertwined with the light of Aerin's dragon, as if the dark and light were in perfect balance. "Now you remember! But its time you see what this baby can do!" He set a card and motioned forward for his dragon. "Void-Eyes banishes a card from each of our fields until my next stand-by phase!" A void opened on each side of the field, absorbing Wightprince and Sadow's facedown card.

"I activate the trap, Skull Succession!" Damian cut in, "If a Wight monster leaves the field because of your card, I can summon another monster with the same name from my deck in attack position to replace it! I bring out another Wightprince!" Just as soon as the first prince disappeared, another one took its place.

"Fine! I end my turn!" Shadow huffed as he set a card, making it seem as if he wasted his monster's effect. He glared at Yusu, since he knows it would have to be his turn.

Yusu drew his card and quickly analyzed his hand. "I'll start off by summon ol' reliable, Mechanimal Overtoad, in attack position (0 atk)!" The mechanical frog sprang onto the field of light and dark. "Since I summoned Overtoad, Mechanimal Compound Cobra (0 atk) can also join him from my hand! On top of that, Overtoad lets me add another Mechanical to my hand straight from my deck! I choose Mechanimal Chain Cheetah!" The clanking cobra slithered out to join the toad. "I'll set two cards face down to finish off my turn!" The two face down cards materialized in front of Yusu and then vanished as quickly as they appeared.

"Wow… I completely underestimated you, Yusu…" Vector praised sarcastically, "With such stunning plays like those, it's no wonder your one of the top duelists in this school after such a short time." He grasped his chin with his thumb and index finger. "You actually remind me of a once-young duelist I knew. Thought that you became friends with someone just because dueled… He said there was good in everyone's' hearts… Even in mine." He paused and gave a twisted grin. "OH how he was wrong! I even had him thinking I was his friend… Astral remembers!" He glared smugly at Astral, "Oh wait! You don't!" He began to laugh hysterically. Yusu and Astral exchanged glances, but Astral looked confused, as he didn't know who he was talking about.

"Would you quit rambling?!" Naka snapped, "No one wants to hear your nonsense! Astral is a program created by Yusu's dad! How could you have any relation with him?"

"Oh is that what you've been told? That's adorable!" Vector glanced at Astral and gave a little chuckle. "Well it's my turn now!" He drew his card with a sort of grace. "I'll start with this little devil! Evilswarm Mandragora! I can summon this when you control more monsters than I do." A small brown leafy imp sprouted up from the ground. "Now comes Evilswarm Castor! And with him, Evilswarm Herera, thanks to Castor's extra normal summon!" A corrupt knight and flaming black dinosaur materialized in front of Vector. "And you know what comes next! And you're in for a treat… because all my monster's levels are negative!"

"Monster's whose levels are already negative!" Yusu gasped.

Vector puffed and polished his knuckles on his chest. "Like your friend said a while back, 'When a monster is consumed by rage and darkness, their levels fall beneath the limits of nothingness and its level becomes negative!'," he looked at his 3 monsters, radiating darkness, and laughed, "But when their user's heart is as black and twisted as mine, it would be quite difficult for them to be any further consumed by darkness!" He pointed forwards to his monsters. "I overlay my level -4 Castor and Mandragora! The knight of shining darkness! Appear now! Number -64! Evilswarm Bihaibu (2400 atk)!" A shining black knight with a radiating golden claw rose to the field with a subtle sparkle.

"A new negative number!" Yusu exclaimed, managing to keep his cool.

"That's right!" Vector began, "And this one's a real doozy! Let me show you!" He snickered under his breath. "I activate Bihaibu's effect!" Vector motioned to the glimmering knight, "By using one overlay unit, Bihaibu changes all of your monsters into defense position! And if that weren't enough all of their defenses become 0!" The knight curled up its body and formed an X shape with its arms. After shrouding itself in a murky aura, it outstretched its arms to expel a dark pulse, changing Yusu, Damian, and Naka's monsters into a defensive stance. Those monsters were shortly coated in the aura as if they had been weakened.

"All of our monsters!" Naka huffed, "That's just ridiculous!"

Aerin laughed. "I think you'll find a lot of things Vector does to be ridiculous… But boy does it work!"

"Oh, Aerin," Vector blushed, "Your too kind…" He paused. "STOP IT! We're not here to be friendly!" He quickly scanned the threesome's monsters and continued, "But he's right… Now Herera! Destroy that wretched Ritual monster!" The black dinosaur shrouded itself in a purple flame and charged at the weaponized woman, destroying her in a small explosion. Naka glared at Vector, but kept calm. "And I'm not done yet! Herera can attack every monster that's in defense position!" The three gasped. "Quite the devilish combo, even if I do say so myself! Now Herera! Take out Wightprince!" The dino charged again, destroying pile of bones.

"What a mistake!" Damian interrupted, "When Wightprince is sent to the graveyard, I can send two more skull from my deck to the graveyard! Go Skull Servant and Lady in Wight!" The two skeletons joined the first.

"This is a waste of my time-"

"I'm not done yet!" Damian continued, "Now for my trap! Wightcourt! Because my skull monster was sent to the graveyard, and I control no more monsters, I can summon from the deck… Arise, ruler of the undead, King of the Skull Servants (3000 atk)!"

"That was unexpected…" Vector's squinted, then turned to Yusu and grinned, "But it won't save Yusu's monsters! Herera! Take out those reptiles!" He commanded, not realizing that Toads are amphibians. Vector's dinosaur breathed its purple flames onto Yusu's two monsters, engulfing them in a violet blaze. Yusu grunted, but showed no emotion when his monsters were destroyed. "What?" Vector started in a mocking tone, "No crying? No speech about how your monsters are your friends? Well your field is wide open, and my Number still has its attack! Go, Bihaibu! Attack Yusu directly!" The dark knight raised its massive claw, slashing it down to the ground with a mighty thud, sending a striking shockwave to Yusu. Vector giggled menacingly, "I end my turn!" Yusu gave a small grin.

"My monsters' sacrifices won't go in vain!" Yusu was smiling. "In fact, I was hoping that would happen!" He motioned to one of his facedowns. "My trap, 'Recycled Tuning', activates!" The purple vortex opened and a giant crane claw pulled the slightly damaged toad and snake out of it. "If two or more of my monsters are destroyed, during the end phase I can use them to Synchro summon by shuffling them into the deck, regardless if neither of them are a tuner!" The two machines formed into 7 green orbs and shot into Yusu's deck. "Synchro Summon! Level 7! Mechanitile Hydraulic Hydra (2900 def)!" A metallic 5 headed appeared with pistons pumping along its spine. The five heads letting out roars one after the other. "When Hydraulic Hydra is summoned, I can add a Mechanimal monster from my deck to my hand! Mechanimal Armadrillo!" The card popped into his hand and the deck shuffled. "This'll come in handy!" Vector rolled his eyes and scoffed.

Yusu – 1600 lp

Everyone else – 4000 lp

"My turn then!" Naka started, "With AV in my graveyard, I can add her to my hand instead of drawing this turn! Come back, AV!" The card slid out of the graveyard slot and he grabbed it. "Next, by banishing the top 5 cards of my deck, I can add Ballistiqueen Photo Op from my graveyard to my hand!" Again, the card slid into his hand as his deck began to thin. "By tributing the AV in my hand, I activate Ballistiqueen Photo Op to summon the newly banished… The lady of striking rebellion! Ms. Samuella, Ballistiqueen of the Draw (2000 atk)!" A short, slender lady with a rifle on her back rose in front of him, her arms crossed. "Samuella attacks Galaxy-Eyes!"

"My dragon has more attack points!" Aerin laughed, "You must want to lose sooner than I thought!" His dragon began charging a blinding beam from its mouth.

"I don't think so! Samuella's effect!" He pointed to her and she pulled out her rifle. "When Samuella battles a monster with more attack points, that monster is destroyed before the battle! Ballistic Revolution!" She sent out a pulse that stopped Galaxy-Eyes' beam from charging as she aimed her sights on the dragon.

"Not on my watch, pest!" Aerin cut it, "My monster's effect activates!" Galaxy-Eyes' body began to glow brighter. "When my magnificent dragon battles a monster, it can banish both itself and the other monster until the end of the battle phase! Galaxy-Eyes is unharmed!" Galaxy-Eyes' blinding aura began to deflect the barrage of bullets.

"Samuella's other effect!" Naka continued desperately, "While there is an ongoing chain, I can banish her to resolve the chain in any order I choose! Ballistic Order!" Samuella's body began to fade to white as the bullets and the dragon froze in the middle of battle. "Your dragon will be destroyed before it can hide!" The blinding aura dissipated as galaxy-eyes' body faded to a dark black. Naka snapped and the bullets unfroze, destroying the dragon. "I will not allow you to win with cowardly tactics like that! I end my turn!"

"Cowardly?" Aerin gritted his teeth, "I'll show you how a master deals with a fool who leaves himself wide open!" He drew his card and glanced over Vector who winked nonchalantly.

"Well, Aerin," Vector gave a twisted grin, "Why don't you show them your new trick?"

"Er… Yes!" Aerin grinned, "I'll do just that!" He looked at the card he drew and raised his eyebrows, "I'll start off by activating the spell, Galaxy Zero! This allows me to summon a Galaxy or Photon monster from my graveyard! Resurrect! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" The ground in front of Aerin broke open, and his dragon crawled out of the crack, its body still dim. "Fortunately for you, the monster summoned by Galaxy Zero can't attack or activate its effects. But fortunately for me, I won't be using him for that! I summon Galaxy Witch!" A mystic, womanly figure appeared, wearing a floppy hat with the imprint of the stars themselves under the brim. "Her effect activates!" The witch's staff began to glow a dark purple and Galaxy-Eyes followed suit. "When Galaxy Witch is summoned, Galaxy-Eyes' level becomes negative… and it's treated as a tuner!" Galaxy-eye's body began to glow a bright green, instead of its normal blue.

"A tuner?" Damian gurgled, "Another friggin' Synchro Summoner… This'll be great!" He rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Right…" Aerin went on as he spoke under his breath, "So how does this work again…" He scanned the room and locked gazes with Vector, who was growing impatient. "Oh, of course!" He motioned to his dragon, who turned into 8 purple rings, as the Witch turned into a green orb. "I tune my level 1 Galaxy Witch with my now level -8 Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon… Darkness and light wandering in the universe… An untapped power now fully under my control! Its power opens the door to destruction! Synchro Summon! Descend, Level -7! Number -62! Galaxy-Eyes Pulsar Dragon (3200 atk)!" The whole field became shrouded in light. A strikingly radiant outline of a dragon formed in the light. The glow slightly faded and the cosmic dragon appeared with an ear-piercing screech.

"That thing is massive!" Naka's jaw dropped, "I can barely see, it's so bright!"

"I never thought you could improve upon perfection… But I guess I was wrong!" Aerin praised with his arms raised, "Look at the mighty majesty of this dragon! Simply beautiful… It almost brings a tear to my eye…"

"Aerin!" Vector groaned, "Now that you've fangirled all over your dragon, maybe we can get on with this duel?" He crossed his arms with a huff and glared.

"Right… Of course! When Pulsar Dragon is summoned, I can special summon one of its synchro materials from the graveyard with its attack halved! Resurrect once more! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon (1500 atk)!" He swiped his hand back. "Battle! Number -62! Attack Naka directly! Radiant Stream of Annihilation!" The barely visible dragon began charging a devastating beam.

"I won't let you!" Naka yelled, "By banishing Klashka from my graveyard, I can summon my banished Samuella with its effects negated!" The slender woman rose once again.

"That won't save you! My dragon is too strong!" Aerin boomed, the might of his dragon sending him on a power trip. "Attack his monster instead!" The beam continued charging, and shot out at a rapid blinding pace.

"By discarding Mr. Barretina, Ballistiqueen of the High Powered, Samuella's attack is doubled!" He slid the card into his graveyard slot, giving Samuella a bright blue glow.

"A pointless waste! It's time for Plan B!" Aerin raised his hand to the sky, "Pulsar Dragon's effect activates! When this card battles, I can return a face-up card on each side of the field to the hand! Return, Galaxy-Eyes and Samuella! Cosmic Reversion!" The rapid flash blinded the room as the dragon and the woman disappeared in an instant. Naka's eye twitched, but he managed to keep his cool with a grunt. "Now my dragon is free to attack you directly again! Destroy him!" The beam continued, knocking him back. The blast was so potent, that he barely managed to get back to his feet. "That's how a master duels!" He ended with a smug grin.

Naka – 800 lp

"It's my move!" Damain began as he drew. He scanned the card he drew and grinned at his King. "Every King needs a Queen to rule by his side! And here she is! Queen of the Skull Servants (3000 def)!" The ancient lady rose to the side of her King. "I'm allowed to summon this monster when I control King of the Skull Servants! Now battle! King of the Skull Servants! Attack Void-Eyes!"

"It doesn't matter! Both our monsters will be destroyed, and next turn, I'll just-"

"Who said my monster was going to be destroyed?" Damian smirked with his hand on his hip. "While Queen of the Skull Servants is on the field, level 1 monsters I control cannot be destroyed!" King charged his orb of dark magic uninterrupted, while his Queen kept him protected with a barrier. "Soulless Surge!" King fired the huge black orb, engulfing the dark dragon. The sphere imploded, leaving nothing behind. Queen's eyes began to glow a bright white. "When King of the Skull Servants destroys a monster by battle, Queen allows him to attack again with attack halved! Go again, King! Attack Sadow directly!" The King shot a smaller orb directly towards Sadow, causing him to cringe slightly (Sadow - 2500 lp). "I end my turn! And with that, King's attack returns to normal (3000 atk)!"

"A feeble attempt of damage dealing won't go unpunished! I draw!" Sadow locked eyes with Damian. "At this moment, the card's banished by Void-Eyes' effect last turn return to the field." Sadow's face down card and Damian's Wightprince rematerialized on the field. "Now the face down that just reappeared activates! My trap, The Other End!" A black swirling vortex appeared above the field. "I'm allowed to activate this card when its set from the banish zone. With this card, I'm allowed to summon any number of Void and Primal monsters from my graveyard… Come back to me! Void Predator, Void Syphon, and finally, Void-Eyes Primal Dragon!" The three beasts descended from the black hole with a ferocious gaze set on Damian.

"You brought three monsters back! Just like that!" Damian exclaimed, "That card is ridiculous!"

Sadow huffed irascibly. "The monsters summoned by this effect are to be banished at the end of this turn… but it does not matter! I banish Void Syphon to activate the effect of Void-Eyes!" The black mist engulfed both Syphon and Damian's queen. "Your Queen is banished until my next turn!" Both monsters were completely swallowed by the mist, falling into the void.

"My queen!"

"It's time I ramp things up a bit…" Sadow continued, grasping a card in his hand, "I activate the spell Primal Fusion! By banishing Void Predator and Void-Eyes Primal Dragon" A swirling blue and orange vortex appeared behind him. "King of pitch darkness, an all-consuming void in the light! Two destructive creatures come together to bring a new disparaging power! Fusion Summon! Show yourself, Number -95! Void-Eyes Devouring Dragon (lv 8 / 3200 atk)!" A murky figure that barely resembled a dragon rose from behind Sadow. A foggy shadow slowly spread across the light from Aerin's dragon, and, once again, the auras of the two dragons merged together flawlessly. "There's nothing to save your King this time! Number -95! Attack!" The beast charged its attack in its mangled claws and slung a wave of darkness at the King. (Damian - 3800 lp)

"You may have beaten my King now, but he always comes back... And he'll be stronger that ever!"

"Maybe... If you survive that long... My Number's effect activates!" A misty outline of King of the Skull Servants appeared. "When Void-Eyes Devouring Dragon destroys a monster by battle, it absorbs its attack points and can attack again directly!" The Number inhaled the mist, and the void in its chest expanded and began to glow a dark purple. "I attack you directly! Vacuum Wave!" Void-Eyes charged another, more powerful attack. It slashed forcefully, almost angrily, as if the great power was causing it pain, and sent another wave straight at Damian, knocking him the ground. "Maybe you've learned your lesson, eh?"

"I'm up!" Yusu drew his card with a hopeful passion, "I summon the Mechanimal Armadrillo that I added to my hand!" An orb-shaped metallic armadillo rolled onto the field to join the Hydra. "I tune my level 7 Hydraulic Hydra with my Level 1 Armadrillo... If you know my deck so well, you should know whats coming next!Machine-driven Dragon, strike down with the power of thunder... Your metal fangs that strike with lightning! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Mechanitile Bolt Dragon!" The mechanical dragon crashed down with a strike of lightning, letting out an earsplitting screech.

"Ah... Youre best monster..." Vector said with a slight smirk, "Let's see how long it lasts against our numbers!"

"It's beaten other numbers, and it'll beat these too! I activate a continuous spell! Mechatoolbox!" A giant toolbox appeared behind Yusu, full to the brim with an assortment of armor-like tools. "When this card is activated, I can equip a Mechatool card from my deck to my monster! I choose to equip Mechatool Drillbit to Bolt Dragon!" A drill-shaped gauntlet rose from the toolbox and attached itself to the Dragon's arm. "This card increases Bolt Dragon's attack by 800 (3200 atk)! And you know what happens when Bolt Dragon gains attack! Transference Discharge!" Bolt Dragon's eyes lit up to a bright yellow, creating an electrical current between itself and Vector's number. "Bihaibu loses 800 atk (1600 atk)!"

"Oh no!" Vector cried with his hands on his cheeks, "You're going to destroy my all-powerful number card! All hope is lost!"

"Well that's definitely one way too look at it! I attack Evilswarm Bihaibu! Bolt Stream Charge!" Yusu's dragon became enveloped in strong electricity and wildly charged at Vector's Number, leaving nothing but holographic shards. (Vector - 2400)

"All hope is lost... For YOU!" Vector's fake frown quickly twisted back into his deranged smile, "When an my Evilswarm monster is destroyed by battle, I can summon this card from my hand! Evilswarm Banbushu!" Two small purple and black bamboo shoots sprang from his hand onto the field. "When it's summoned this way, I gain life points equal to the destroyed monster's original attack!" The tiny plants danced in unison, casting a healing aura onto Vector. (Vector - 4800)

Yusu grunted. It seemed as if every play he made, Vector had a counter play. Astral turned to Yusu. "Yusu... You mustn't lose hope!" He encouraged, noticing the slight slump in Yusu's normally charismatic posture. "You've managed to defeat another number. We can pull through!" Yusu smiled at Astral and straightened up and nodded.

"How touching..." Vector mocked, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye, "But I'd like to start my turn now!" He drew forcefully, leaving behind a trail of a sort of glitter. "I summon Evilswarm Ketos!" A purplish blue amphibian joined in line with the bamboo and the dinosaur. "You're really in for a treat now! I overlay my 3 level -4 monsters... Come! Numbers -104! Foolish insects, kneel before the dazzling horror! Evilswarm Umbral Magician (2700 atk)!" A slender figure, wielding a gold and blue staff, cloaked in a purple robe with gold plating emerged. It's mere presence made the room feel darker.

"He has another Number Card?!" Yusu gulped, managing to remain confident.

"Are you afraid, Yusu?" Vector laughed under his breath. "Because you haven't seen anything yet! Umbral Magician's effect activates!" He outstretched his arms to his magician and looked up to the sky. "Once per turn, the top card of your deck is sent to the graveyard... Then I can destroy one card of the same type that was sent to the graveyard!" Vector cackled, "So if it's a monster... Your dragon is done for!" The end of the magician's rod shone a dark purple glow, and Yusu's deck followed soon after. The dark force pulled the top card into Yusu's graveyard slot. "Now let's see what was sent!" A large image of the card appeared before them. Mechanimal Monkeywrench. "Your Dragon is destroyed!"

Umbral Magician charged its staff and fired a shadowy bolt at Yusu's Dragon. "You can't!" Yusu bellowed, "Mechatoolbox's effect activates! I can shuffle an equip spell I control into my deck and immediately a Mechatool Equip Spell to the same monster!" The drill disengaged from Bolt Dragon's arm a settled back into the massive box. Metal plating came from the tool box and attached to Bolt Dragon's chest, forming a barrier it. "I equip Mechatool Plate Shield to Bolt Dragon. He may lose the attack boost, but now he can't be destroyed by card effects!" The yellowish barrier absorbed the incoming blast. "You're safe for now, buddy." Yusu looked endearingly at his monster as it gazed back at him.

"Don't get too comfortable!" Vector went on, clutching his deck. "If Umbral Magician doesn't get to destroy a card, it grants me a draw instead!" He swiftly drew his card. "I attack Bolt Dragon with Umbral Magician! Chaos Calling!" The glow around the magician's body began to pulsate, sending waves of it's outline at the dragon. "That card won't save you from battle destruction!" Bolt Dragon became entangled in the glowing outlines, slowly squeezing and destroying it. Yusu groaned under his breath and flinched from the damage. "I'm not done! I activate the Quick-Play Spell, Chaos Contract of Duplication! This card creates a copy of my monster, but with half the attack!" Vector's monster began to ripple and crackle, until a transparent copy of the Magician split off (1350 atk). "Umbral Magician's copy attacks you directly!" The clone charged at Yusu and bluntly whacked him with it's staff, knocking Yusu down. "You two leave Yusu to me." He turned to Aerin and Sadow. "All I have to do is sneeze on him next turn and he's finished!" He sneered as he set a card. They nodded obediently.

Yusu - 50 lp

Damian - 700 lp

Naka - 800 lp

Vector - 4800 lp

Sadow - 5500 lp

Aerin - 4000 lp

"This has gone on long enough! It's time I end this!" Naka stated boldly, "Once again, I add AV to my hand instead of drawing! Furthermore, by banishing the top 5 card of my deck, I add Ballistiqueen Photo Op to my hand!" He took a deep breath and pulled forth all of this focus as he slammed the card down, "I activate Ballistiqueen Photo Op by tributing AV... Magnificent lady of insurgence! The perfect ballistic fighting machine! Strike fear into the hearts of our enemies! Ritual Summon! Level 11! Ms. Brows! Ballistempress of the Alley!" An enormous woman with electric coils on her shoulders, carrying a huge mortar on her back crashed up from below the floor. "This is the ultimate weapon in my arsenal!" He momentarily admired his monster and then pointed forward. "And she will lead to your demise! Her effect activates!" The coils on her shoulders began to gleam. "Ms. Brows forces you to summon every monster from your hand with their effects negated! Revolution Spark!" Electricity surged from her shoulders, zapping Aerin's hand, forcing all the monsters out.

"Fine then! If that's what you want... I summon Galaxy Wizard, Galaxy Quasar, and Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon all in defense position (1800, 1500, 2500 def)... Surely you're not going to give me all my monsters without some sort of penalty... Bring it on!"

"Gladly." Naka went on, "Mr. Brows can attack all of my opponent's monsters!" Aerin rolled his eyes, thinking he was safe, but his eyes quickly widened as Naka continued, "And she inflicts piercing damage! Go! Destroy the monsters you just summoned! Radical Strike!" She loaded 3 shells into her cannon and fired, destroying the trio in a violent explosion. (Aerin - 500 lp)

"Well my Pulsar Dragon is still stronger so-."

"Ms. Brows attacks Pulsar Dragon!" He discarded the last card in his hand. "By sending Ms. Barretina, my last card, to the graveyard, and banishing AV from the graveyard, I add Ms. Barretina's attack to Ms. Brows' (5900 atk)!" A tall transparent outline of a woman appeared behind Ms. Brows and was quickly absorbed into her. "Ms. Brows... Fire!" She loaded one last bomb and took aim at Pulsar Dragon.

"Oh no..." Aerin looked down, "You seemed to have forgotten..." He looked up and grinned, "I activate Number -62's effect!" His Dragon and Ms. Brows began to evaporate into pixels. "I return both Ms. Brows and Pulsar Dragon back to our hands!" The two monsters vanished, leaving both of their fields completely empty.

Naka's eyes widened, realizing he had no more options. "I... I end my turn." His shoulders dropped, the confidence quickly draining from his body.

Aerin's grin widened. "No one's ever done that much damage to me. You certainly are a worthy opponent. .." The top card of his deck gave off a light blue glow as he drew it. "But I've already won! I summon Galaxy-Eyes Cloudragon!" A miniature version of his dragon flopped awkwardly onto the field. Naka gave no response. "By tributing Cloudragon, I summon Galaxy-Eyes from my graveyard once more! Arise once again so we can destroy this fool! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" The dragon rose again, fully luminescent. No response. "Really? You're just going to sit there with a blank stare? Fine! Destroy him, Galaxy-Eyes! PHOTON STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!" The massive blast hit Naka directly, knocking to the ground, unconscious.

"Naka!" Yusu clenched his fists. The dark aura appeared faintly around him as his very soul began to rumble.

"I am the master!" Aerin began smugly, "And that is my dueling! My turn is over!"

"I'm going now." Damian went, smiling at the card he drew, "I summon the slave of the undead king, Skull Servant!" A short, robed skeleton joined the other small crowned skeleton. "Now it's time! I overlay my level 1 Skull Servant and Wightprince! Come, the true heir to the Skull throne! Xyz summon! Rank 1! Archduke of the Skull Servants!" A tall, black coated Skeleton rose in front of Damian, wielding a black longsword. "Much like our king, Archduke gains attack for every Skull in grave. 500 for each, to be exact (4 skulls - 2000 atk)!" Four floating skulls orbited his sword, then imbued themselves into it.

"You can summon all the little skulls you want." Sadow said sternly, "But it doesn't change facts. The fact that your undead army is no match for my temporal dragons!" His dragon was growling a very low pitch.

Damian looked askance at the dark dragon and went on. "I activate Archduke's effect! I detach an xyz material from this card, and he gains effects for every two Skulls in grave before the material is detached! As of now, there are four skulls in grave! With two, he gains an extra attack this turn, as long as I banish a Skull Servant from grave. With four, he becomes immune to your monster effects this turn! Go! Noble Necromancy!" Archduke swung his sword forward, as it was set ablaze with a black flame. "I detached Wightprince to the graveyard. You know what happens next!" Wightprince, along with a duo of skull servants filled the graveyard from the deck. "With the Skull Servant that I banished, there are now 6 Skull Servants in my graveyard. Now I can activate my trap! Wightcourt!" The facedown flipped up and a purple pentagram appeared.

"More tricks?"

"Not a trick. My key to victory!" Damian curled his lip, "Because there are at least 5 skull servants in my graveyard, I can summon one of them! Rejoin your successor, King of the Skull Servants (King - 5000 atk, Archduke - 2500 atk)!" A murky silhouette of the King rose from the pentagram. The shadowy cloak broke away, revealing the powered up Skeleton. Sadow's eyes narrowed as Damian motioned forward. "King of the Skull Servants! It's time you take that dragon down a peg! Attack!" The number was destroyed, leaving nothing but a small void in its wake . (Sadow - 3700 lp)

"A useless attempt... You don't seem to grasp the full power of these numbers yet," Sadow opened his hand to the void, "When Devouring Dragon is destroyed, it brings back two of my banished DARK monsters!" The dark dragon and the crest rose from the void as it closed. "Welcome back Void-Eyes and Syphon (2500 def and 0 def)! And once again, I gain life points equal to Void-eyes' attack due to Syphon's effect!" A purple glittering haze spread from the crest to Sadow. (Sadow - 6700 lp)

Damian's brow furrowed nervously. "Well the least I can do is destroy that Syphon of yours. Do it, Archduke!" It its blazing sword and chopped the diamond in two.

"It's unbelievable that I let a pathetic runt like you put so much as a scratch in my life points." Sadow gritted his teeth and kept a straight face as he drew, "Now I shall teach you not to stick your nose in the business of Barians!" Damian's Queen rose back onto the field. "Queen of the Skull Servants returns to the field at this time... But now I summon Primal Brawler!" A pale warrior, similar to the one Aerin summoned, appeared on the field, two giant cesti covering its hands. "Once again, I activate Void-Eyes' effect! For the last time, I banish your Queen, along with my Brawler!" Both monsters succumbed to the mist.

"Not my Queen again!" Damian was starting to feel defenseless, barring the skeleton on his field with massive attack.

"The banished Brawler's effect activates!" A murky outline of the warrior appeared behind his dragon. "King of the Skull Servants loses half of attack points (2500 atk)! But that's not all..." The mighty King's stance fell into a weak and vulnerable position. "That amount is not added to my dragon's attack (5500 atk)!" The black hole on it's torso expanded and sparked, it's power seemed limitless. Damian began to shake slightly. All hope seemed lost. "Listen well! Next time I catch you meddling in our business, you won't just lose the duel... End this, Void-Eyes! Primal Wave of Reversion!" Sadow's ferocious beast unleashed its final assault onto the undead King. It was destroyed, leaving not a single bone behind, obliterating Damian's remaining life points. He too was on the ground, unconscious.

Yusu's rage intensified over the defeat of now both his friends. It seemed the number was taking control once more. Astral cried out, "Yusu no! You mustn't!" It had no effect. "You can't lose control again! Remember!" Yusu gave no response. Desperate, Astral transported himself into the pendant.

Yusu drew his card. The whole room, and possibly the whole school, was quaking. "I'll make you all pay! With this, I-" Yusu paused in pain and clenched his chest where the pendant was hanging.

Meanwhile, inside the pendant, Astral came to a grid where the very few numbers they had collected were held. As he approached, a giant misshapen remnant of Yusu's number from the tournament faded to existence, the gem on it's chest glowing redder than before. "He belongs to us now..." It grumbled deeply and softly, "Even if you remove the pendant, we have infused with his very soul!" The grumble turned to a dark laughter as the other few cards turned a solid purple.

Astral spread his arms like a cross. "I won't let you have him!" Astral began to shine very brightly, causing Clockwork Y-Vern to turn in fear. "If you Yusu can't keep you under control himself, then I will help my friend!" The shine turned the the red gem on Y-Vern's chest to an alternating yellow and blue. The giant monster turned back into a card and Astral placed it into the grid along with the others, which were no longer glowing purple.

Yusu continued to clench his chest as the pain slowly died down, but he seemed to still be enraged. He was about to continue until Astral called out from the pendant. "YUSU!" The voice from the dreams joined in, "CONTROL IT! EMBRACE IT!"

Yusu grabbed his head and screamed in pain as he fell to his knees. The dark and light within him was once again at war. The light seemed to have won as he slowly rose to his feet, exuding a faint yellow glow. "You're right, Astral... I have no idea what I was doing..." He gave a slight smile, "Mechanimal Armadrillo's effect activates from the graveyard!" Yusu's trusty dragon rose to the field once more. "When the monster that used this card for it's Synchro Summon is destroyed, it's summoned back to the field during my next stand by phase with its attack and effects stripped from it. And that time is now! Welcome back, buddy!" Bolt Dragon turned, and gave what almost looked like a smile. Yusu's aura grew stronger. "But he's not alone! I summon Mechanimal Overtoad once again!" The frog sprang onto the field as Yusu's deck shuffled and popped out a card. "I add Mechanimal Towrantula to my hand by Overtoad's effect!" He slapped down a card. "And now with that in my hand, I activate the quick-play spell, 'Level Duplication'! Every monster on the field becomes the same level as one card in my hand! I choose the level 5 Mechanimal Towrantula!" He held the card high up, as lightning streamed from it to the toad and all three dragons on the field.

"Two level five monsters?!" Vector pretended to look scared, "Good luck summoning your number without any negative levels!"

"I won't need negative levels! I overlay my Level 5 Bolt Dragon and Overtoad..." The aura around him was now a vibrant gold as his eyes began to glow a brilliant yellow. "When chaos is drawn to light, a whole new breed of power is created to bring peace! I hope you're ready! Reborn Number 34! Mechanitile Overclock Wyvern (2700 atk)!" A purified form of Yusu's number spread its wings before them. Less decrepit and its gem now giving off a beautiful yellow glimmer.

"R-reborn Number?!" Vector seemed sincerely surprised, "H-how..." He seemed lost for words. A rare occurrence.

"You're vile numbers can be purified! I don't know how exactly... But I know it's because of this!" He held up the pendant. Vector's eyes widened. He recognized the pendant. "And now Overclocked Wyvern's effect activates!" One of the glowing orbs around the wyvern dissipated. The gears inside of it began to tick and the gem sent out a golden wave, bringing Vector's, Aerin's, and Sadow's monster's to their knees. "Your monsters' effects are negated are their attacks become 1000!"

"Our numbers!" Vector gritted his teeth, quickly peering at his set card.

"It's time for your number to go! Overclocked Wyvern attacks Umbral Magician! Clockwork Crusher!" Sounding automated, Yusu's number stomped towards Vector's and charged a glittering punch.

"My trap card!" Vector grimaced sadistically, "Chaos Contract of Equilibrium! Once per turn, the attack of one of my DARK monsters becomes equal to your monster's attack, and it cannot be destroyed by battle!" A darkened mirrored image of Yusu's monster appeared and rotated over to the magician, which quickly absorbed. "Your 'pure' number is destroyed while my number is left unharmed!"

"I wouldn't say that..." Yusu smiled and pointed forward, "As long as Overclocked Wyvern has a Synchro monster attached to it, that being Bolt Dragon, it cannot be destroyed! Our monsters are at a stalemate!" The two numbers struggled. Another battle of light and darkness and there seemed to be no clear winner.

Overclocked Wyvern and Umbral Magician began to glow yellow and purple respectively. They slowly became engulfed in an orb of the same two colors. Once again, the whole room was rumbling from the struggle. Soon, the two colors faded to a blinding white. The shaking ceased and the orb shattered, sending dozens of card shaped shards of light were flung into the sky and rained down across the entire city.

"My beautiful numbers!" Vector cried out, grasping his crimson hair, "You idiot! Those were only supposed to go to worth duelists! Who knows what will happen if those fall into the wrong hands?!" He snapped his fingers and the trio backed into portals, Vector grumbling about his plans and a thorn in his side.

Yusu looked around the ruins of the Chancellor's office as his glow began to fade. "Naka! Damian!" He turned to see Chancellor Atlas bringing the two to their feet. "Hey!" He yelled to Jack, holding up his duel disk.

"No no!" Jack waved his hands as he held his arms around the pair. "I'm myself again, thankfully. I want to help!" Yusu glared at him skeptically, but had no time to respond before they heard fast footsteps approach the door.

A tall man peered into the office. "Dad!" Yusu cried out happily. With everything that was going on, it felt nice to see a loving face.

"Yasuda!" Jack sighed in relief.

"Yusu!" Yusu ran to him for a bit of comfort, but Yasuda grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him. "This is no time for formalities. We've got a lot of work to do!"


End file.
